Two individuals involved in high profile Chilton County cases will appear in court this week.

A Clanton man found guilty of murder in the October 1998 death of a Clanton woman is scheduled to be in court Thursday for sentencing.

In June, a panel of 12 jurors returned a guilty verdict after deliberating for 35 minutes for Marty Joe Taylor, 52, who shot 39-year-old Jennifer Gail Hampton, who used to live on Second Avenue South, on Oct. 18, 1998.

Taylor’s sentencing is scheduled before Judge John Bush at 8 a.m. at the Chilton County Courthouse.

Hampton was found off Hinkle Road in 1998, naked from the waist down, with a single gunshot wound to the back of her head.

After detectives conducted an initial investigation when the crime occurred, and based upon the collected evidence and technology available at the time, the case went cold and no arrests were made.

The case was later re-opened in 2011 by former Chilton County Sheriff and current investigator for the 19th Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office Billy Wayne Fulmer.

Using updated forensics technology, investigators were able to locate Taylor’s DNA profile as a match to DNA taken from Hampton’s body.

Taylor was arrested in 2012 and charged with murder.

A former Thorsby High School teacher who pleaded guilty to rape and sodomy charges in May is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday for sentencing.

Jennifer Collins McNeill, 40, of Thorsby, is scheduled to appear before Chilton County Circuit Judge John Bush at 8 a.m. at the Chilton County Courthouse.

McNeill, a former Thorsby High School teacher, was indicted by a grand jury in February on six counts of rape in the second degree and two counts of second-degree sodomy.

McNeill allegedly had sex with a teenage boy who is between the ages of 12 and 16, according to court records.

As part of her plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to dismiss four of the counts in exchange for a guilty plea to three counts of second-degree rape and one count of second-degree sodomy.

Once McNeill is sentenced on Thursday, she will have to register as a sexual offender and could potentially serve up to 60 months in jail, according to Chief Deputy for the 19th Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office C.J. Robinson.

McNeill was arrested in August 2013 after authorities obtained a warrant for her arrest due to allegations made regarding McNeill and a juvenile male.

McNeill was a sixth grade teacher and cheerleader sponsor at Thorsby.

In Oct. 2013, the Chilton County Board of Education unanimously voted to approve Hayden’s recommendation to terminate McNeill’s employment and to cease her salary and benefits immediately.