By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
Fair to say that former Army Ranger Luke Sommer has some issues.
Sommer, who is serving a 24 year sentence for masterminding a 2006 bank robbery in Washington state, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to trying to hire an undercover FBI agent to kill a Seattle assistant U.S. Attorney who helped send him to prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He also pleaded guilty to attacking his co-defendant in prison with a knife.
The U.S. Attorney Office said, according to a press release, that” on two occasions in March 2009, SOMMER offered an undercover FBI task force officer as much as $20,000 for murdering an Assistant United States Attorney. Law enforcement was alerted to SOMMER’s interest in hiring a hit man in January 2009, barely a month after SOMMER was sentenced. SOMMER moved forward with the plot in March 2009, when he tried to hire the undercover officer telling him he wanted news reports of the hit to reflect that it was ‘murder not an accident.'”
Under a plea agreement, the 22-year-old will get an additional 20 years — certainly enough time to work on some of his issues.
“Any attempt to harm those working in law enforcement, is an attack on the justice system — a pillar of our democracy,” Seattle U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan said in a statement. “We take all threats and violence against law enforcement and court staff very seriously, and will fully prosecute those responsible. As we have in this case, we will seek significant punishment.”
