Cheerleader Mom Sentenced To 10 Years Woman Plotted Murder To Get Daughter On Junior Squad

Wanda Webb Holloway, who offered her diamond earrings in a murder-for-hire plot aimed at getting her daughter on the junior high cheerleading squad, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday.

Holloway, portrayed as a vindictive stage mother at her 1991 trial and two subsequent TV movies, pleaded no contest to murder solicitation and was sentenced by District Judge George Godwin.

Defense attorney Jack Zimmerman said she can apply for release in as little as six months, though prosecutors said they would fight such a request.

“Everyone was in concurrence that if she were willing to do this, it would be the best for everybody,” Zimmerman said.

Holloway plotted to have Verna Heath murdered by a hit man, hoping the death would upset Heath’s daughter Amber so much that the girl wouldn’t make the cheerleading team, police said. That, in turn, would improve Holloway’s daughter’s chances of making the squad. Both girls were 13 at the time.

During Holloway’s trial, jurors heard secretly recorded tapes of her asking her former brother-in-law, Terry Harper, to hire a hit man. Prosecutors said she gave him the earrings and promised to pay cash for the murder within a month.

“You want her dead?” Harper asked.

“I don’t care what you do with her. You can keep her in Cuba for 15 years,” she replied. “I want her gone.”

Holloway was convicted of solicitation of murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison. She won a new trial, however, after it was learned a juror was on probation and should have been disqualified from serving.

Two years ago, Holloway agreed to pay $150,000 to Heath and her family to settle a lawsuit accusing Holloway of causing the Heaths extreme anguish.

The Heaths said they were satisfied with the sentence.