Steven Marcus Kelley, Murder-for-Hire Plot, Louisiana 2020

MONROE, La. – A federal jury in Monroe, Louisiana, returned a guilty verdict yesterday afternoon convicting Steven Marcus Kelley, 48, of West Monroe, Louisiana, in connection with a murder-for-hire plot.

Acting United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced the guilty verdict. United States District Judge Terry A. Doughty presided over the two-day trial.

The charge stemmed from a letter that Kelley wrote while incarcerated at Ouachita Correctional Center (OCC) and awaiting trial for the rape and molestation of his then-12-year-old and 8-year-old stepdaughters. In the letter, Kelley tried to hire someone to kill his ex-wife, who is the mother of the victims in the sex crimes case.

Evidence introduced at the federal trial revealed that Kelley obtained the address to which he mailed the letter from another inmate at OCC. Believing the individual who lived at that address would carry out the murder, Kelley offered “$10k for the job” for the individual to put “2 in the chest, 2 in the head” and to “make sure it counts.” Kelley drew a map in both blue and black ink of the area where his ex-wife worked.

On the night of December 10, 2019, the individual who lived at the address to where Kelley mailed the letter received and read the contents of the letter. The letter provided a physical description of the victim, the vehicle she drove, where she worked and her normal schedule to arrive at work. The letter stated that it “HAS to look like a robbery.” Realizing that the letter was soliciting someone to commit a murder, the individual took the letter to the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office the next morning.

Kelley faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, 3 years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. The FBI, United States Postal Inspection Service, and Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office assisted in and investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica D. Cassidy and Leon H. Whitten prosecuted the case.

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