A northeastern Pennsylvania man has been sentenced in federal court to 35 years in what authorities called an unsuccessful murder-for-hire plot.
Forty-five-year-old Gary Williams of Scranton was sentenced Wednesday on last year's convictions of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, witness tampering and several firearms offenses.
Prosecutors said Williams was promised a $50,000-a-year job if he killed the ex-wife of 64-year-old Edward McLaughlin of Cape Coral, Florida, Authorities said the men hatched the plan when they were cellmates in Pike County in 2011 and that McLaughlin shipped a rifle from Florida to Scranton for Williams.
Williams, who told authorities he was only stringing McLaughlin along, unsuccessfully sought a new trial. McLaughlin pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit a murder-for-hire and two firearms counts but sought to withdraw the pleas earlier this year.
