Frankie Golding
A man has received a life sentence in prison for orchestrating a plot to kill his ex-wife and mother of his 3 children, which resulted in the accidental death of her sister instead.
Kevin Lewis, 34, was handed the sentence in the Snohomish County Superior Court, Washington after committing the crime back in 2017.
The jury deliberated the verdict for 4 hours before finding the plotter guilty of both first-degree conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree aggravated murder with a firearm.
He was then given a lengthy sentence of ‘life without parole’ by Judge Paul Thompson.
The trial revealed that Lewis had hired his 18-year-old cousin, Jerradon Phelps, to murder his ex-wife Amanda Canales rather that opting to commit the physical act himself.
Told to get Lewis’ ex-spouse 'out of the way' and reportedly paid $2,400 (£1,700) to do the job, Phelps and a female defendant, Alexis Hale (who was 16 years old at the time), reportedly then went to the home of Canales, where Lewis’ 3 children also live.
Unbeknownst to the duo, Amanda had gone on a business trip to New York and her sister was in the family home babysitting her children.
It was therefore Alisha Canales-McGuire, who was only 24-years-old, who was shot 5 times by Phelps when answering the door to the duo at 1.55 am.
After the crime, police reported that Hale and Phelps then fled the scene, only to flex their earnings on social media.
A police statement stated: “The male suspect posted photos on social media showing off several hundred-dollar bills just a few hours after the murder.”
It continued: “The female suspected allegedly bragged to several acquaintances that she’d been hire to kill someone in Snohomish County.”
Both duo were brought into custody a year later, before Phelps was sentenced to 31.5 years behind bars and Hale 15 years.
During the trial, however, it was Lewis, the orchestrator of the crime who intended victim Amanda Canales directly addressed.
She branded her ex-husband as 'pure evil' and added in reference to the former couple’s 3 children: “I thought you loved them, but someone who loved them would never want to subject them to danger and to trauma.”
The mother and businesswoman continued: “Did you care that if it was just me home that night, they would have woken up to find their own mother dead, lying in a pool of blood?”
“They’re healing and they’re moving forward, despite all of the damage that you caused. And in case you’re wondering, they don’t ask about you or talk about you at all.”
As well as giving Lewis a life sentence, Judge Thompson also ordered the murder orchestrator to no longer have any contact with his ex-wife, his children, and Phelps and Hale for the rest of his life.