Ex-con arrested in alleged murder plot against high-profile criminal defense lawyer
A recently released inmate has been arrested in an alleged plot to kill a lawyer who once represented former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
The suspect, Kenneth Lee, was arrested last week in the alleged plot to kill New Orleans criminal-defense lawyer Robert Jenkins, report WDSU, the New Orleans Advocate and the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Lee was released from federal prison in Florida a few months ago after his sentence was shortened due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The ruling said a burglary conviction did not count as a violent felony under the career criminal law, according to the Advocate.
Authorities allege that Lee approached another inmate, Donald Sylvester, before Lee’s release from prison and offered to perform a murder for hire. Sylvester allegedly said he would hire Lee to murder Jenkins, who had represented Sylvester until Sylvester fired the lawyer before trial.
Sylvester then told authorities of the alleged plot. In a recorded phone call, Sylvester and Lee spoke in code, referring to fitness training rather than a murder, an FBI affidavit alleges. Sylvester’s uncle—actually an FBI agent–was supposed to supply weapons and pay for the murder.
Jenkins told the Advocate he was concerned about the alleged plot, but it’s not the first time he’s been threatened over his work. “I’ve been through it many times,” he said.
