Man found guilty in murder plot

A Lake County judge found Abdul Love guilty of trying to arrange the murders of two men Thursday after a four-day trial.

Love, 29, will face a sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison once the drug case that originally landed him in the Lake County jail is concluded.

Circuit Judge Fred Foreman said there was overwhelming evidence Love intended to hire a hit man to kill his co-defendant in the drug case and one of the Waukegan police officers who arrested him.

Foreman rejected arguments from Love's attorney, Ian Kasper of Waukegan, that Love was enticed into committing the crime by a fellow inmate.

In his own testimony in the case, Love claimed inmate Charles Newcomb came up with the plan to have Michael Nelson and Officer Dominick Cappelluti killed. Newcomb convinced Love the drug case against him would have to be dropped if the two were dead, Love said, and he went along because he did not believe anyone would ever be harmed.

But Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Scott Hoffert argued that two conversations Love had with an undercover state police agent that were secretly recorded provided ample evidence of Love's intent.

"'I want them gone, I want them dead, I want them earth' he says on the tapes, over and over again," Hoffert said in his closing argument. "Throughout both conversations, the defendant provides all the evidence you need to find him guilty."

On the tape recordings, Love promised to pay the undercover agent $45,000 to kill Nelson and Cappelluti, then claimed in court it was Newcomb who had promised to pay the killer.

In delivering the verdict, Foreman said Love had failed to convince him he was a nonviolent college student from Carbondale who had been manipulated by Newcomb.

"The defendant is a drug dealer," Foreman said. "A drug dealer who, with great enthusiasm and bravado, solicited the murder of Officer Cappelluti and Michael Nelson."

Hoffert asked that sentencing on Love's solicitation of murder for hire conviction be delayed until he can try Love on the drug charges beginning Jan. 12.

Love faces an additional 15 to 60 years in prison if convicted of possession of more than five pounds of cocaine.

Foreman ordered Love held without bond until the second trial can be held.