An Alabama woman who pleaded guilty to a murder-for-hire plot had her sentence reduced by a federal judge after the intervention of the target of the plot.
Rebecca Elizabeth Murphy, 36, pleaded guilty in US District Court in September ro conspiracy to commit murder for hire and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, WALA reported. But she later testified against two of the three sisters who hired her to kill Raul Mina, who was estranged from the third sister’s daughter.
US District Judge Jeffrey Beaverstock sentenced Murphy to nearly eight years in prison on Monday, but he changed his mind when Mina arrived in the courtroom and asked him to reconsider.
Mina thanked Murphy for her testimony against Judy Owen and Mitzy Gaye Smith, who were found guilty at trial earlier this month, and for bringing the plot to the attention of the FBI. After hearing from him, Beaverstock agreed and changed his sentence to five years in prison.
The third sister, Sandra Grimes, pleaded guilty in October. Her daughter and Mina were going through a bitter custody dispute at the time of the plot.
According to an affidavit filed in the case, Owen paid a vet bill in February 2024 for Murphy, who had previously lived next door to Smith, and called it a down payment for the murder, CrimeOnline reported. Grimes and Owen told Murphy they “wanted the murder to appear as an overdose” but also said they didn’t care if she “had to slit (the victim’s) throat, as long as she got the job done.”
They told her they had paid a man $10,000 to do it, “but he ran off with the money.”
The sisters gave Murphy money to buy heroin to kill the victim, and she made several trips to Louisiana but never managed to conduct the murder. The affidavit details text messages between the sisters and Murphy, most over a “second phone” using coded names.
At one point, Smith gave Murphy a box of Christmas decorations with gun in the bottom. At that point, the affidavit said, Murphy “knew the sisters were serious about the scheme.” The sisters continued to pressure Murphy to finish the job, including a text message from Grimes in March telling her to “stab him in the heart at the door or shoot his a** in the heart or face.”
Ultimately, Murphy turned the sisters in.
In her guilty plea, Murphy admitted she was an active participant in the plot even though she ultimately didn’t follow through and instead turned the sisters in, WALA said.
The judge said she will get credit for time served since her arrest and will serve three years probation after her release.
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[Featured image: Rebecca Murphy/Baldwin County Jail]