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The criminal case against a man accused of a murder-for-hire plot to kill his ex-wife has resulted in a hung jury.
David L. Thomas is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree domestic assault.
A jury was expected to decide last week if Thomas, 62, conspired with his girlfriend, Diane Greer, to have Thomas’ ex-wife killed while Thomas was in prison.
Prosecutors are weighing their options, but, at this point, intend to try the case again. Prosecutor Dan Patterson said he couldn’t elaborate on why the jury was hung, citing the desire not taint a future jury pool.
The prosecutors office and police — through court documents — previously have said that the “hit man” hired by Greer, 47, to kill the woman was actually an undercover officer.
Greer pleaded guilty two weeks ago to conspiracy as part of a deal in which she agreed to testify against Thomas.
She had originally been charged with first-degree assault, but had that charge dropped.
For a short time, Thomas and Greer thought they had succeeded in having the woman killed, authorities have said.
The undercover “hit man” staged the murder, using makeup to look like the woman had been killed.
He photographed the woman with the staged injury and presented the photos to Greer, according to a probable cause statement used to file charges in the case.
“(The officer) said Greer thanked him for killing (the woman),” the statement says.
An informant who worked with police to set up the faked hit called Thomas in prison and told him his ex-wife had been killed, documents say.
An employee at the prison said Thomas appeared to be emotional when he got off the phone and said, “I think my wife’s been killed. I need to call my son.”
The employee described Thomas’ emotions as “fake,” according to the statement.
An officer visited Thomas in prison and said he was there to inform him of his ex-wife’s death.
The officer showed Thomas the photos and Thomas acted upset, the statement says.
The officer then showed Thomas photos that his ex-wife was still alive.
“Thomas stared at the pictures, but gave no appearance that he was happy or relieved (his ex-wife) was still alive,” the statement says.
Instead, Thomas asked what was wrong with her face and said it looked like it was bleeding.
The informant allegedly told police in September 2012 that Thomas had been talking about a plan to kill his ex-wife. Two months later, Greer and Thomas set the plan in motion, police say.
Thomas allegedly thought the plan would work better if it happened while he was in prison, giving him an alibi.
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