As I Lay Dying singer pleads guilty to murder plot
Tim Lambesis, the singer for US metal band As I Lay Dying, has pleaded guilty to attempting to hire an undercover agent to murder his estranged wife.
The singer, who initially denied the charge, could face nine years in prison for the attempted contract killing.
Lambesis, 32, who formed As I Lay Dying in San Diego in 2000, has sold more than a million albums.
He remains free on $2m (£1.25m) bail until he is sentenced 2 May in Vista Superior Court, California.
Lambesis had asked a personal trainer at his gym to help him get rid of his wife Meggan, claiming she had restricted his visits with their three adopted children after they separated in September 2012.
He was arrested in May 2013 after prosecutors said he met a sheriff's deputy posing as a hitman, called Red, and handed over $1,000 (£600) along with his wife's address and front door security code.
The undercover agent, San Diego County Sheriff's Officer Howard Bradley, testified last year that Lambesis met him at an Oceanside bookshop in May and said he wanted his wife "gone".
Bradley said he asked Lambesis directly if he wanted his wife killed, and the singer replied, "Yes, I do."
As I Lay Dying have released six albums, including 2007's An Ocean Between Us, which reached number eight on the Billboard charts.