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Pope denied bond in Hall murder
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Bond was denied for 27-year-old Candice Cadasha Pope, who is charged in the murder of Alvin Hall, the Atlanta man’s whose charred remains were found in a burning car on New Years Eve.

Pope, who is charged with murder, making false statements and hindering apprehension — along with her 18-year-old cousin Brandon Hambrick and his 19-year-old friend Jordan Coleman — are accused of luring Hall into a car in the hopes of perpetrating a scam that Pope and Hambrick frequented in Atlanta where they would steal victims' ATM cards and pin numbers and then drain their accounts.

According to Chief Assistant District Attorney Layla Zon, Pope posed a risk of committing additional felonies and intimidating witnesses if granted bond.

"She admitted that she turns tricks frequently and that she lured him [Hall] into a car where he was duct-taped and placed in the trunk; they took his wallet, brought the car to Newton County, shot him several times in the trunk and then set the car on fire," said Zon as Pope shook her head slightly as if denying what Zon said.

"She denies that she came to Newton County but she says she came here to pick up her cousin and his friend," Zon continued. "But her cell phone records show that she made a call 15 minutes before the 911 call came in about a burning vehicle [which pinged off a local tower]… Hambrick says she was in Newton County and involved in the murder and a camera shows her withdrawing money [with Hall’s ATM card] a day after at a gas station."

Zon also said that Pope was unemployed with three children and received various types of government assistance but had a $6,500 cosmetic surgery following Hall’s death. Pope is currently on bond for criminal trespassing in DeKalb County and has a criminal history, though not for charged nearly as serious as the ones she now faces.

"Basically she knew he [Hall] was set to get a check [from his job with the city of Atlanta], she waited to it hit his bank and then they drained the account," said Zon.

Pope’s attorney James Studdard argued that Pope had never failed to come back to court when she had been released on bond in previous, unrelated cases, and although she was unemployed at the time of her arrest, when she does work it is as a nurse’s assistant.

According to Studdard, Pope denies all the charges against her. He said that she was in an Atlanta park with when the crime occurred and that she did see her cousin that night when she took him to his mother’s home at around 12 a.m. She reportedly told her attorney that she returned home around 6:30 a.m. and that her three children, ages 11, 9 and 5, were the only ones there but that the eldest child saw her return. He also said that Pope did not deny having a tummy tuck. He said she needed to be released on bond so that she could get a job and support her children.

Superior Court Judge Eugene Benton looked over Pope’s previous criminal history before announcing that he believed Pope was "a danger to the community" and denied her request for bond.