Inmate’s murder-for-hire plot falls apart when he mails letter to wrong person, feds say
Update: Steven Marcus Kelley was sentenced to 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release on Feb. 9, 2022.
A 48-year-old man in Louisiana was found guilty in federal court on Tuesday of trying to hire a hit man to kill his ex-wife — while he was in jail on pending state charges.
After a two-day trial, Steven Marcus Kelley was convicted on charges of using a facility of interstate commerce in the commission of murder-for-hire, prosecutors in the Western District of Louisiana said Wednesday in a news release. Kelley faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine at sentencing.
Defense attorneys representing Kelley did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Wednesday.
Prosecutors said Kelley was at Ouachita Correctional Center in Richwood, Louisiana, awaiting trial on rape and molestation charges relating to two minor children when he reportedly plotted to have his ex-wife killed. A federal judge later ruled the pending state charges were “inexorably intertwined” with the murder-for-hire plot.
Kelley got the address for his would-be hit man from a fellow inmate, the government said.
“Believing the individual who lived at that address would carry out the murder, Kelley offered ‘$10k for the job’ for the individual to put ‘2 in the chest, 2 in the head’ and to ‘make sure it counts,’” prosecutors said in Wednesday’s news release.
The letter also included a hand-drawn map in blue and black ink showing where his ex-wife works, a description of her, what type of car she drives and when she normally arrives at work. Prosecutors said Kelley instructed the hit-man to make the murder “look like a robbery.”
According to the release, Kelley used another inmate’s name on the return address and asked someone else to give it to a corrections officer to be mailed.
The government said the letter arrived on Dec. 10, 2019, at an address in Monroe, Louisiana, where Kelley reportedly believed the hit man lived.
Instead, prosecutors said, whoever received it promptly turned it over to the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Law enforcement later watched surveillance footage from the jail and saw Kelley “sitting on his bed writing a letter.” The government said he alternated between two pens, consistent with the two colors used on the map of his ex-wife’s workplace.
Kelley was also reportedly seen going to another inmate’s cell with an envelope in hand and addressing it while sitting on the inmate’s bed.
“Moments later, the inmate whose name Kelley used on the return address of the letter entered the cell and engaged in a conversation with Kelley and the other inmate,” prosecutors said. “Later that evening, Kelley can be seen giving the letter to another inmate who in turn gives it to a correctional officer for mailing.”
A search of Kelley’s pod at the jail revealed he had blue and black pens, and the address he used to mail the letter was found in another inmate’s bunk, the government said.
A sentencing date for Kelley has not yet been set.
This story was originally published October 27, 2021 at 3:50 PM with the headline "Inmate’s murder-for-hire plot falls apart when he mails letter to wrong person, feds say."
