Woman Gets Life In Prison Plus 40 Years In Murder-For-Hire Plot
TOWSON, Md. (WJZ)—This summer, a jury found a woman guilty of hiring a hitman to kill her husband at the family's gas station in Towson. Now, a Baltimore County judge has issued a stunning sentence in the murder-for-hire case.
Mary Bubala reports Karla Porter is going to prison for the rest of her life.
A Baltimore County judge sentenced Porter to life in prison plus 40 years without the possibility of parole for plotting to kill her husband, William Ray Porter.
Monday, his family reacted.
"I think she got what she deserved," said Ray Porter Sr., victim's father.
Porter claimed she acted in self-defense after enduring years of abuse from her husband.
"There was no domestic abuse in this case. This case was truly just based on other circumstances that just didn't come out. It was based on greed and money," said Rick Porter, victim's brother.
In August, a jury convicted Karla Porter of first-degree murder.
Prosecutors proved she plotted the death of her husband at a Hess gas station-- making it look like a robbery.
But Karla Porter eventually confessed during a taped interrogation.
The Baltimore County woman admitted she enlisted the help of several people, including family members, to hire triggerman Walter Bishop, who fired the fatal shots inside the gas station the couple owned together.
Detective: "What happened Karla?"
Porter: "He was being so mean, over the last few days."
Her attorneys say they will appeal.
"We are disappointed, obviously, in the sentence received by Karla Porter today, and we were disappointed that an instruction was not given which would allow this jury to determine whether in fact there was spousal abuse in this particular case," said William Purpura, Karla Porter's attorney.
"The evidence at the trial was very clear. Every story that she told about these acts of alleged abuse we completely disproved," said John Cox, prosecutor.
Porter is the last of the five conspirators to be sentenced.
Bishop is already serving life in prison.
Prosecutors say Karla Porter asked at least two other men to kill her husband, before hiring Bishop.
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