Pastor Sentenced to Half-Century in Murder-for-Hire Plot

 

A judge sentenced a former pastor for hiring someone to attempt to kill his wife, according reports.

  

Southeast Missourian reports former Pastor Donald Lafferty was sentenced to 50 years for hiring a couple to burn his home and kill his wife.

Lafferty hired Brandy Hicks and her husband, Christopher David Hicks, in a scheme to burn the house and collect insurance money, the Kansas City Star reports.

Brandy Hicks told an investigator that she and Lafferty started a sexual relationship after she attended his church.

Lafferty allegedly told the couple he would pay them to burn down the house, more depending upon the "outcome of the fire," if his wife died, according to VNews.
  
"I think that for all the things that the defendant did, it is very appropriate," Prosecuting Attorney Russell Oliver said, according to Southeast Missourian. "Especially, that count four was consecutive to the remaining counts. I felt that was necessary, because it was a separate transaction that occurred nearly a year after counts one through three."