N.J. Woman Sentenced in Murder-For-Hire Plot
NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) – A New Jersey woman who admitted to hiring a hit man to knock off a romantic rival was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday.
Nicole Faccenda pleaded guilty last year to using interstate commerce with the intent of committing a murder.
Prosecutors said the Lyndhurst woman hired a hit man, who was actually a federal ATF agent, to kill her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend. She agreed to pay $10,000 to have the woman killed.
Faccenda is also accused of arranging a second hit while in jail, CBS 2's Christine Sloan reported.
"He was living with both," said Peter Willis, Faccenda's lawyer. "He had a family with both ladies. He had a son with Nicole, and he had two children with his girlfriend."
A prior criminal complaint revealed that Faccenda was recorded via phone and on a wire saying, "She has watched a lot of Lifetime movies and wanted to make sure that the undercover hit man was not a cop," that she'll urinate "on the (woman's) grave and go to her funeral and spit on the casket," and she'll be "happy when the victim-girlfriend is buried and six feet under."
The intended victim, only identified as "Jennifer," spoke directly to Faccenda in court, Sloan reported.
"I am concerned for the safety of my children and myself because one woman can't control her hatred and jealousy toward another woman," Jennifer said.
Faccenda begged the judge for leniency.
"Please think of my children...I am begging you for a second chance," she said.
"She's very sorry," Willis said. "She has no real explanation, other than what the doctor has indicated, which is a personality disorder."
The judge didn't buy that, however, telling Faccenda, "It's almost as if you watched 'Fatal Attraction' and made it you," adding it was anger, arrogance and control over relationships she couldn't have that led to the murder plot.
Faccenda will appear at a court hearing on her second murder plot charge before she is taken to federal prison, Sloan reported.
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