Woman sentenced to 15 years for trying to hire hit man

TUSCOLA, Ill. (AP) - An east-central Illinois woman has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for trying to hire someone to kill her boyfriend's wife.

The News-Gazette in Champaign reports that (http://bit.ly/1C4inVQ ) 34-year-old Michelle Smith pleaded guilty last week in Douglas County Court to attempted solicitation of murder for hire.

Prosecutors say a man told police last September that Smith had approached him about hiring a hit man. Police fitted the man with a device that recorded his conversations.

During those conversations, Smith produced a photo of the boyfriend's wife, her address, a description of how to get in their home and its layout.

She also said she wanted the murder to look like a suicide, and wanted it carried out while she was with the woman's husband so they both had alibis.