Channeler Indicted In Death Plot Man Accused Of Hiring Hitman To Kill His Ex-Girlfriend
A jailed spiritual “channeler” and former sushi chef has been indicted on a charge that he paid a fellow inmate to kill his ex-girlfriend.
The murder never happened - the proposed hitman has been in custody since being shot in the buttocks last summer during a failed gun-shop burglary.
The channeler, Jack David Peel, 48, has been in jail since being charged with kidnapping and shooting the woman, Connie Price of Twin Falls, in the arm.
He won a mistrial in that case this week after new evidence surfaced.
Thursday, he pleaded innocent to the new charge - solicitation of first-degree murder - several hours after a grand jury’s indictment.
Between Nov. 1 and Jan. 5, Peel paid inmate Thomas David Martin an undisclosed sum to kill Price or have her killed, the indictment says.
Peel’s plot involved maps of the victim’s home, her phone number, and details of Price’s life, such as when she went to work and when she came home, said Twin Falls County Prosecutor Richard Bevan.
Martin, an escaped bank robber from New Mexico, will not be charged with a crime, Bevan said.
Martin, 32, was shot in the buttocks by Twin Falls shop owner Floyd Hazen while trying to steal guns from Blue Lakes Sporting Goods last summer.
Martin was sentenced Wednesday to 150 months in prison after pleading guilty to robbing a New Mexico bank and theft of a firearm from a licensed gun dealer, said Carol Vaughn, clerk for U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge.
Bevan would not say how much Peel paid Martin, or how he learned of the crime. Peel could face up to 15 years in prison.
Bevan said he still plans to prosecute Peel again for first-degree kidnapping, aggravated assault and aggravated battery in connection with the September kidnapping and shooting of Price.
Peel, acting as his own attorney, told trial jurors before the mistrial this week that unidentified hypnotists in Colorado forced him to kidnap Price. He won a mistrial after recent rains uncovered a pistol at the site near Buhl where he allegedly shot Price in the arm.