The California man who prosecutors said helped plan the 2007 murder of Dale Stark pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder just days before his retrial was set to start. A jury in May deadlocked 11-1 to convict Brian L. Moore, 46, on charges of first-degree murder by accomplice and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Moore was charged with helping Shellye Stark plan and carry out the Dec. 9, 2007, shooting death of her estranged husband, Dale R. Stark, in his South Hill home.

The California man who prosecutors say helped plan the 2007 murder of Dale Stark, pleaded guilty today to second-degree murder just days before his retrial was set to start.

Standing before a judge Tuesday for the second time as a convicted killer, Shellye Stark received less than half her original 51-year sentence for shooting her husband in 2007.

Shellye Stark collapsed into her chair, muttering “Oh no, oh no,” as a jury convicted her Friday for the second time of first-degree murder for killing her estranged husband in 2007. Stark’s attorneys told the jury that the slain man, Dale R. Stark, had subjected their client to decades of spousal abuse. But the jury rejected their arguments that the shooting Dec. 9, 2007, came as a result of Shellye Stark trying to defend herself.

A second jury has convicted Shellye Stark of first-degree murder for killing of her estranged husband some five years ago.

Former online prostitute Shellye L. Stark arrived Tuesday at the Spokane County Courthouse for a rare second chance to convince a jury that she was simply defending herself in 2007 when she shot her estranged husband to death at their South Hill home. One jury already has convicted Stark, 50, of murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Dale R. Stark, rejecting her self-defense claims during a 2009 trial.

Spokane County proseuctors have decided to pursue a second trial against a Southern California man charged with first-degree murder by accomplice, setting up what could be the fourth major trial following the 2007 slaying of Dale Stark.

A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case of a Southern California man charged with first-degree murder by accomplice in the 2007 shooting death of his girlfriend’s husband. The jury deliberated for parts of four days before informing Superior Court Judge Greg Sypolt that they could not come to a unanimous decision against Brian L. Moore, 46, who was the boyfriend of former prostitute Shellye Stark.

A Southern California man is either a calculated killer who persuaded his lover to gun down her husband or simply a concerned man who tried to get the dead man’s insurance settlement to help keep his prostitute girlfriend out of prison. Attorneys described a chaotic web of relationships during the opening arguments in the trial of Brian L. Moore, 45, who is charged with first-degree murder by accomplice and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in connection with the Dec. 9, 2007, slaying of Dale R. Stark.