CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A judge sentenced a Wyoming prison inmate Thursday to an additional 35 years behind bars for trying to hire a hit man to kill his mother and stepfather while incarcerated.
Andrew Silicani, 23, wanted to collect their life insurance and inherit their house, prosecutor said. U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal imposed the additional sentence, saying it was heartbreaking that Silicano wanted to kill his mother after she had supported him through a lifetime of mental health problems.
"For what? For a new car, 10 tattoos and for drugs?" the judge asked him. "To exchange a life for such juvenile desires is hard to comprehend."
Cheryl Lambert, Silicani's mother, told Freudenthal the sentencing hearing was the saddest day of her life. Lambert also said she and her husband, John Ott, feared Silicani would try to kill them again if he ever were released.
"You are my son and I love you forever," Lambert said. "Now my real grieving begins as I learn to let go of you, my son and my only child."
Silicani was serving five to seven years in state prison for two robbery convictions, including one in which a victim was stabbed, when he tried to arrange the murders for hire. He will serve the federal sentence after his state term, which expires at the latest in 2018.