{"id":28222,"date":"2016-12-02T16:33:21","date_gmt":"2016-12-03T00:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28222"},"modified":"2016-12-02T16:34:49","modified_gmt":"2016-12-03T00:34:49","slug":"man-involved-in-murder-for-hire-plot-to-kill-federal-judge-sentenced-to-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28222","title":{"rendered":"Man Involved in Diabolical Murder-for-Hire Plot to Kill Federal Judge and Other Officials Sentenced"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANTA ANA, CALIF.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\"LADYJUSTICE\"John Arthur Walthall<\/strong> was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for soliciting the\u00a0<\/span>murders and assaults of a federal judge, two federal prosecutors and two federal agents, all of whom were<\/span>
\ninvolved in his prior conviction for fraud. <\/span><\/p>\n

The 20-year sentence will run consecutively to the prison term\u00a0<\/span>he received in the fraud case.<\/span><\/p>\n

Walthall, who formerly resided in Laguna Beach, was convicted by a federal jury in July following a one week\u00a0<\/span>trial in federal court.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"andrew-guilford\"
U.S. District Judge Andrew Guilford,<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A federal jury deliberated about two hours\u00a0<\/span>and found Walthall guilty of soliciting the murders and assaults of U.S. District Judge Andrew Guilford,\u00a0<\/span>Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ivy Wang and Mark Takla, and FBI Agents Brad Howard and Frank Bernal.<\/span><\/p>\n

At trial, the government presented evidence that Walthall was charged in 2009 with four counts of wire\u00a0<\/span>fraud and one count of failure to appear after he convinced an Orange County elderly couple to invest $5.5<\/span>2\u00a0<\/span>million in a scheme where he promised to extract gold from abandoned mines. <\/span><\/p>\n

While pending trial, Walthall\u00a0<\/span>fled and was arrested in July 2011 in Nevada with a .45 caliber pistol, 3 barrel extenders, 3 magazines, a\u00a0<\/span>fake silencer and the book titled, \u201cHow to Be Invisible.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Walthall was later convicted and in April 2012\u00a0<\/span>was sentenced to 168 months in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

In March 2014, the FBI was contacted by family members of two inmates at the federal prison in Lompoc with information\u00a0<\/span>that Walthall had approached them and asked for their help in kidnapping and murdering Guilford,\u00a0<\/span>Wang, Takla, Howard, Bernal and others including his former defense attorney. <\/span><\/p>\n

Walthall\u2019s plan included\u00a0<\/span>kidnapping Judge Guilford, forcing him to exonerate Walthall, cutting one of his eyes out and killing him<\/span>
\nby placing him in a wood chipper.<\/span><\/p>\n

Agents were able to record one of those inmates as well as an undercover agent meeting with Walthall\u00a0<\/span>where he repeated his plans. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"CourthouseAgents learned that Walthall had been planning this for three years and\u00a0<\/span>provided step-by-step instructions on how he wanted his plans carried out. <\/span><\/p>\n

Agents also learned that Walthall <\/span>had solicited another inmate in Santa Ana Jail following his conviction in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

At trial, Walthall claimed he was insane and suffered from paranoid schizophrenia or a delusional disorder.<\/span><\/p>\n

The United States relied upon a mental health expert witness as well as Bureau of Prisons psychologists\u00a0<\/span>that had assessed Walthall throughout the years and found no signs that he suffered from these diseases.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Walthall became an armed fugitive after being charged with defrauding an elderly couple of millions,<\/span>
\nand when caught and convicted, proceeded with a plot from prison to murder the officials who held him<\/span>
\naccountable,\u201d said Deirdre Fike, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.<\/span>
\n\u201cI\u2019m hopeful that the additional prison sentence handed down today will end Mr. Walthall’s ability to<\/span>
\nvictimize seniors and law enforcement officials in the future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SANTA ANA, CALIF. John Arthur Walthall was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for soliciting the\u00a0murders and assaults of a federal judge, two federal prosecutors and two federal agents, all of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nMan Involved in Diabolical Plot to Murder Federal Judge Sentenced<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Man sentenced to 20 years in prison for soliciting the murders and assaults of a federal judge, two federal prosecutors and two federal agents.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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