Two people from Fulton County have been sentenced for the death of a man last year. Both 53-year-old Shawn Edward Cox and 48-year-old Anna Maria Hamilton were sentenced after negotiated guilty pleas for the death of 26-year-old Derek Hamilton. Hamilton was killed at a house in Hardy in eastern Fulton County on Jan. 8 of 2024.
Cox received six years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to negligent homicide with a deadly weapon. Hamilton, who was related to the victim, pled guilty to hindering apprehension or prosecution and was given 36 months suspended imposition of sentence and ordered to serve 120 days in a Community Corrections Center.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the case, deputies responded to an altercation between family members and found Derek Hamilton with multiple stab wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
That night, Cox, who is Anna Hamilton’s boyfriend, admitted to stabbing Derek Hamilton during an argument that turned physical after Derek Hamilton allegedly attacked Anna Hamilton. Anna Hamilton said that night that if Derek had raised his hand to her one more time “she was going to take him out of this world.” Both Anna Hamilton and Cox admitted they had been drinking all day.
During her interview with investigators the next day, Anna Hamilton said she was highly intoxicated. Cox said he was armed with a knife and when he tried to break up the fight and Derek started punching him, so he began stabbing him in the stomach and the back.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI