84-Year-Old Texan Charged With Trying To Put A Hit Out On A Prosecutor
When Dorothy Canfield allegedly told a confidential informant she wanted to hire a hitman to kill the prosecutor, she was given the name of an undercover investigator from from the district attorney's office in Montgomery County, Texas.
She allegedly agreed to pay $5,000 for a hitman to murder Montgomery County Assistant DA Robert Freyer and $2,500 to injure DA Brett Ligon badly enough to put him in the hospital for "two to three weeks."
She allegedly wanted the murder to seem like it was related to the recent killings of Kaufman County D.A. Mike McLelland and his Assistant D.A. Mark Hasse, Ligon told reporters.
When Canfield confessed Monday morning, the Texas Rangers who questioned her said she was "very cold and not very remorseful," the Associated Press reported. And don't think she deserves sympathy because of her age, Ligon added.
"If you've got the motivation, the means to make it happen, it doesn't matter your age. It only matters what your intent is. The contract already was sealed," he said.
The elderly woman faces charges of solicitation of capital murder and solicitation to commit aggravated assault on a public servant, according to AP.
Prosecutors and law enforcement officials across Texas have lived in fear since Hasse was shot to death in January. The brutal slayings of McLelland and his wife Cynthia on March 30 have prompted state authorities to increase security even more at courthouses and prosecutors' homes.