Dorchester Man Sentenced In Murder-For-Hire Case

BOSTON - A Dorchester man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Worcester for a murder-for-hire plot against an Assistant District Attorney in Worcester County.

Pernell Powell, 76, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman to nine years in prison and two years of supervised release. In August 2013, Powell was convicted following a jury trial of using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire.

Powell tried to hire his cellmate at the Worcester County House of Correction to murder an Assistant District Attorney who he believed was involved in the prosecution of his pending OUI multiple offender case. Evidence against Powell included recorded conversations which contained explicit threats against the ADA.

U.S. Attorney Ortiz; Vincent B. Lisi, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Colonel Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Sheriff Lewis G. Evangelidis of the Worcester County Sheriff's Office, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cory S. Flashner and Michelle L. Dineen Jerrett of Ortiz's Worcester Branch Office.