LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - An eastern Kentucky man has been charged
with instigating a murder-for-hire plot with what prosecutors describe as designs on having someone in West Virginia killed.
U.S. attorney's office spokesman Kyle Edelen says 70-year-old Robert H. Barnett of Salyersville has been charged with causing another to travel in interstate commerce with intent that a murder be committed, along with a gun charge.
Prosecutors say Barnett offered an undercover federal agent $5,000 up front to kill a person in Huntington, W.Va., and another $4,000 when the job was done. Edelen did not reveal the identity of the person in West Virginia.
Barnett is due in court for a detention hearing on Thursday. He's been in custody since his arrest on March 6.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
