Recently, a Florida woman was kidnapped and murdered when she was mistaken for the target of a murder for hire hit, according to NBC News. The woman was reported missing by her husband from their Osceola County, Florida home. Law enforcement later learned that a plot to kill another woman went wrong when the perpetrators of the hit mistook her for another woman at a shopping center, where they abducted her. The suspects forced her into her own car and drove away; during the process they took her ATM card and Personal Identification Number (PIN) to take money out of an ATM. Even though the hired hitmen discovered that she was not the correct woman, they went through with the murder, beating her unconscious and zip tying and duct taping her head into garbage bags, killing her from suffocation, before getting rid of her dead body in a dumpster. Murder for hire conspiracies not only end in capital offense charges for the person who physically caused the homicide, but for the person who planned or paid for the homicide as well.
Effecting the Death of a Human Being
According to Florida statute 782.04, murder, or homicide, is “the unlawful killing of a human being when perpetrated from a premeditated design to effect the death of the person killed or any human being.” As such, if a defendant helped “effect the death” by paying someone else to do it or help them plan or carry out the offense, they can be charged with first degree murder, which is a capital crime. Hiring or coercing another person to carry out a murder, battery, assault, robbery, burglary, or any other major crime can end in a serious felony offense.
First Degree Murder for Hiring Hitman, as Well as First Degree Murder for Selling Narcotics that Lead to Fatal Overdose
Some people believe that if they hire another to murder someone for them, they cannot be held responsible themselves, or that they will be tried with a lesser felony offense. This, of course, is not true. In fact, Florida’s homicide laws are so strict that an individual can be tried for first degree murder, a capital crime punishable by life in prison or the death penalty, if they sold or gave a controlled substance to someone who then overdoses on it. The types of controlled substances that fall under this statute include, though are not limited to, the following:
- Cocaine;
- Opium;
- Methadone;
- Alfentanil;
- Carfentanil;
- Fentanyl; and
- Sufentanil.
Contact an Experienced West Palm Beach Criminal Defense Attorney Immediately
Premeditated murder, whether you are charged with pulling the trigger or allegedly planning or paying for another to do it, is a capital crime. Whether you have been charged with murder in the first or second degree, you need to contact an attorney at once. The experienced West Palm Beach homicide defense lawyers of the Skier Law Firm represent clients who have been charged with all types of serious felony offenses. Do not hesitate to get in touch with us immediately for professional legal defense.