A Suffolk man pleaded guilty this week to trying to hire someone to kill his ex-girlfriend.

David Lynn Meacham Jr. entered the pleas on two counts of solicitation to commit murder as part of a plea deal. His jury trial was to have begun Thursday.

According to prosecutor Will Jamerson, Meacham talked to somebody in jail about trying to have his ex-girlfriend and her friend killed. That person contacted the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.

An investigator later pretended to be the fellow inmate’s cousin, who was going to be the “hit man,” Jamerson said. Prosecutors recorded several phone calls about the deal during the course of about two months.

“It was always in code as to whom they were talking about,” Jamerson said.

As part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed not to pursue two counts of attempted capital murder of a witness and one count of attempted capital murder.

Meacham was originally in jail for firing a shot into the ex-girlfriend’s home on Great Fork Road in March 2010. Three adults and three children were there at the time, but nobody was injured. Meacham pleaded guilty to those charges in August.

His sentencing hearing on the most recent charges is set for Aug. 25. He faces a potential sentence of 10 to 80 years.