Pages

Monday 24 February 2014

Mother who hired hitman to kill her son-in-law is sentenced to 18 years in prison – but her daughter insists she is 'NOT an evil person'

  • Jacqueline Ray, 51, admitted paying $12,000 for Leon Bauchum to be killed
  • She said the 33-year-old repeatedly abused her daughter Umeko
  • Bauchum's beaten body was found in a ditch near Gig Harbor, Washington

  • Wedding day: Leon Bauchum, right, pictured during his wedding to Umeko Ray, left, was said to have subjected her to domestic abuse
    A judge had jailed a mother for 18 years for hiring a hitman to kill her son-in-law - despite her daughter begging for leniency.
    Jacqueline Ray claimed she feared for her daughter Umeko's life because she was being abused at the hands of husband Leon Bauchum.
    The 51-year-old, of Gig Harbor, Washington, told homicide detectives that she had paid assassin Luis Barker $12,000 to murder Mr Bauchum.

    Bauchum, 33, was beaten and shot before being dumped in a ditch near Gig Harbor. His hands and feet were bound with duct tape and there was tape over his eyes.

    'My mother is not an evil person,' Umeko Bauchum told Judge Stanley Rumbaugh during her mother’s sentencing hearing, according to Kiro7 TV. She asked for the lowest possible sentence for her mother.
    Jailed: Jacqueline Ray, pictured, was sentenced to more than 18 years in prison
    Jailed: Jacqueline Ray, pictured, was sentenced to more than 18 years in prison
    'She was really trying to protect myself and my children. My mother did not do what she did because she had any hate or didn’t want me to be with Leon.'
    Ray's husband and former pastor also pleaded with the Pierce County Judge for mercy, pointing to her dacades of volunteering in her local community. 
    'I ask for mercy, your honor. I ask for grace,' said the Rev. Edmond Holle Plaehn, who was Ray’s pastor at Peace Lutheran Church in Tacoma, according to the Yakima Herald. 'I ask for the lightest sentence possible.'
    During the court hearing, Ray said she was sorry for the crime. 
    'It is my hope with my sentencing here today, with God’s mercy, everyone would someday forgive me.'
    Prosecutors claimed she paid hitman Luis Barker $12,000 to carry out the murder. She then lured Baucham to her house, where Barker was waiting, the judge was told.
    Murdered: The body of Leon Bauchum, left, was found bound with bullet wound in a ditch outside Gig Harbor, Washington
    Murdered: The body of Leon Bauchum, left, was found bound with bullet wound in a ditch outside Gig Harbor, Washington
    The marriage between Leon Bauchum, left, and Jacqueline Ray's daughter, Umeko, right, was said to have been tempestuous
    The marriage between Leon Bauchum, left, and Jacqueline Ray's daughter, Umeko, right, was said to have been tempestuous

    He shot Baucham to death before dumping his body in a remote area near her house.
    Ray had her sentence reduced because she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second degree murder.  
    Assassin Luis Barker also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 29 years in prison.





    No comments:

    Post a Comment