Prosecutors say a heavy metal singer slipped an envelope containing US$1,000 in cash to an undercover agent with detailed instructions on how to kill his estranged wife.
The disclosure came in a San Diego-area courtroom on Thursday after 32-year-old Tim Lambesis pleaded not guilty to solicitation of murder.
A judge set bail at US$3 million. If convicted, Lambesis could face up to nine years in prison.
A prosecutor said Lambesis met earlier this month with the agent, who posed as a hitman.
Prosecutors say Lambesis gave the agent a photograph of his wife, her address, security gate code and dates he would be with his children to give him an alibi.
Lambesis, lead singer of the band As I Lay Dying, was accused of meeting the agent after telling someone at his gym that he wanted his wife dead.
A defence attorney told reporters that it appears the singer was set up by the man at the gym.
The lead singer of Christian heavy metal band As I Lay Dying, who is charged with plotting to kill his estranged wife, had recently become obsessed with bodybuilding and had started acting dangerously distracted around his children, his wife said in divorce papers.
Lambesis’ estranged wife, Meggan Lambesis, said in the court papers obtained by The Associated Press that her husband had fallen asleep while caring for the couple’s three children near a pool and had begun spending endless hours at a gym. He had also begun to spend thousands of dollars on tattoos, she said in the papers filed last fall.
Meggan Lambesis didn’t express any concern in the documents for her own safety, however.
Ad Feedback
– AP
