Woman Sentenced to Life After Hit Man Kills Wrong Person

A South Carolina woman whose teenage lover shot and killed her brother-in-law instead of her husband who was the intended target, will serve life in prison, Reuters reported

Karlita Phillips, 41, was sentenced on Thursday after being convicted of soliciting a minor to commit a felony and accessory before the fact to murder.

She wanted to obtain more than $500,000 in life insurance money by having her husband, Dale Phillips Jr., killed, said Greenwood County Solicitor David Stumbo, who prosecuted the case.

But the teenager she hired to kill Phillips, Tavirous Settles, who was 16 years old at the time of the 2013 murder, allegedly mistook Phillips' brother, Jamil, for the target and shot him dead on the front porch of his parents' Abbeville, South Carolina, home. Both Jamil and Dale Phillips were living with their parents at the time.

Settles testified against Karlita Phillips at trial, telling a jury that she promised to pay him $13,000 out of the life insurance money if he killed her husband. He also testified he and Karlita Phillips were involved in a sexual relationship.

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