A construction contractor in Virginia tried to skip out on a $41,000 remodeling job. When the homeowner had him charged with construction fraud, the contractor hired a hit man to kill him.
But he wasn’t a hit man. He was an undercover police officer.
The contractor was Daniel Jamison, a man who had been convicted multiple times of fraud at the time he was hired for the remodeling job in question.
Jamison was hired, and paid, by the homeowner to complete a job in 2016. He did some of the work, then disappeared about a third of the way through.
The homeowner filed charges against Jamison, who apparently figured the best way to beat a fraud case was by hiring someone to commit murder.
Jamison agreed to pay the “hit man” $500 for a murder weapon and $10,000 for the killing. He also told the hit man that there was cash and jewelry in the home (which wasn't true) that the hit man could keep after doing the job.
Jamison contacted a woman he knew previously from jail, and asked her if she knew anyone who could “take care of” the homeowner.
Unluckily for Jamison, the woman told an ex-girlfriend of the homeowner about the request, and the ex-girlfriend told the homeowner, who called the police.
An undercover officer took over, and the woman Jamison initially contacted set up a dinner for the three of them, which the officer secretly recorded as Jamison detailed his plans for murdering the homeowner, believing he was talking to a hired killer.
The officer also recorded a later meeting with Jamison, as they drove by the homeowner’s house and discussed logistics of the potential murder.
Jamison was convicted Friday and sentenced to 10 years in prison for solicitation to commit first-degree murder. Even after the conviction, prosecutors said he is still terrified after the ordeal.
Jamison tried to say he was just joking, and that despite multiple meetings with someone he believed to be a hit man, he never intended to have the homeowner murdered.
"I don't believe a word of your story," the judge said.
(H/T The Washington Post)
