Jefferson County, Kentucky, Man Sentenced To 92 Months For An Attempted Murder-For-Hire Scheme

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A Jefferson County, Kentucky, man was sentenced today in United States District Court, by Senior Judge Charles R. Simpson III, to 92 months in prison followed by a three year period of supervised release, for an attempted murder-for-hire scheme, announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr.

Earl D. Grigsby, 52, was charged with use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, in a single count indictment on January 21, 2015. Grigsby pleaded guilty to the charge on January 8, 2016. The defendant is currently in federal custody, but was in the custody of the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections at the time of the charged incident.

According to the plea agreement, during the late summer months of 2014, defendant Grigsby attempted to find someone to kill his wife, with whom he was involved in a divorce. The FBI learned of the plan and arranged for an undercover FBI agent, posing as a “hit man” to visit with the defendant, who by this time was serving a jail sentence. The undercover FBI agent discussed the plan with the defendant, at one point telling the defendant that he would "kill the [expletive]" for "25 grand."  This jailhouse conversation was conducted telephonically in jail and was recorded by the jail phone system and on a concealed video recorder used by the undercover FBI agent.  The defendant planned to pay the undercover FBI agent with the proceeds of an insurance policy on his wife. After the meeting with the "hit man," the defendant wrote a letter to an associate which refers to "Dutch" (the undercover FBI agent) and tells the associate that "Dutch" was going to take care of "that other truck" and wants to make sure "that other truck ... will not come back on us." The defendant placed the letter in the mail on or about October 15, 2014.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas W. Dyke and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).