Johnnie and Melissa Blankinship’s 2003 marriage apparently wasn’t working. In 2004, Johnnie told Melissa that he wanted a divorce. Melissa, in turn, told her ex-husband that she wanted to have Johnnie murdered so she could collect on his $500,000 life insurance policy.
The ex-husband contacted police who set Melissa up with an undercover agent. Melissa gave the undercover agent $10,000, a sawed-off shotgun and a color picture of her husband.
Given the evidence, Melissa plead guilty to soliciting murder. She might as well have plead guilty to embezzlement as the judge in the case sentenced her to just two years in jail and eight years probation.
Melissa’s attorney claimed that Johnnie had physically abused her. Which, of course, would explain why she wanted to kill him when he tried to divorce her. A court-appointed psychologist testified that Melissa was suffering from postpartum depression, a personality disorder and battered woman’s syndrome from her previous marriage. All of which, of course, are universally recognized as excuses for coolly planning a murder-for-hire.
According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, when the judge announced the verdict,
Johnnie Blankinship looked to his family and said, “You’re kidding me.”
Indeed.
Sources:
Wife confesses in murder plot. Eric Stirgus, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 2, 2005.