A Washington man was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison for a botched September 2017 murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the death of his ex-wife’s sister.
Kevin Lewis, 34, paid $2,400 to his cousin, Jerradon Phelps, 19, to kill his ex-wife, Amanda Canales. Though Lewis directed Phelps to a home in Everett, he did not tell the teen about others who would be in the home. Without realizing she was not the intended target, Phelps fatally shot Canales’ sister, Alisha Canales-McGuire, 24, (pictured) as she watched Canales and Lewis’ three children, according to The Daily Herald.
Canales was on a business trip in New York at the time of the shooting. Phelps brought a friend, Alexis Hale, 17, to the Everett home and shot Canales-McGuire five times, The Daily Herald reported.
The case went cold until August 2018, when someone contacted police about Hale saying she was hired to kill someone in Everett.
In July 2020, Phelps pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a 31-year sentence. Hale pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced to 15 years.
During Lewis’ trial, Phelps testified that he did not know who he was targeting at the home in 2017 as Lewis only provided an address. Phelps also said he used the $2,400 Lewis paid him to purchase tattoos, Timberland boots, and a Salvatore Ferragamo belt buckle, The Daily Herald reported.
“The male suspect posted photos on social media showing off several hundred dollar bills just a few hours after the murder,” police said, according to The Sun.
When Lewis was charged in 2019 with Canales-McGuire’s murder, he was already jailed for assaulting his ex-wife. The ex-wife testified that she started to fear for her life in 2017 and, at one point, Lewis threatened to kill her if she did not give him custody of their three children.
In November, Lewis was convicted in Snohomish County of first-degree aggravated murder with a firearm and first-degree conspiracy to commit murder. He is ineligible for parole.
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[Featured image: Alisha Canales-McGuire/Facebook]
