Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005 | 11:03 a.m.
Just prior to sentencing the ex-wife of a Henderson Police sergeant to to 3 to 7 1/2 years in prison Tuesday, District Judge Jackie Glass told the woman that her plan to hire a hitman to kill the officer "really blew up in your face."
Glass noted that one reason that Florela McCorkle, also known as Florela Virginia, gave for her actions was that she thought her daughter was not safe with her ex-husband, but as a result of the homicide plot, McCorkle's husband now has full custody of the child.
Florela McCorkle had previously pleaded guilty to one count of solicitation to commit murder for hiring an undercover detective posing as a hitman to kill Robert McCorkle. Metro Police arrested Florela McCorkle on June 15 after she paid the detective $1,000 during a second meeting.
She is alleged to have given specific orders that Richard McCorkle be shot while in uniform and then mutilated, according to the arrest report. District Judge Jackie Glass rejected the argument of Florela McCorkle's attorneys that she had sought out a hitman only as a last resort after the police, Child Protective Services and the Family Court system had failed to do anything about her belief that her now 6-year-old daughter was being sexually abused by someone while in the care of her ex-husband, Robert McCorkle.
Glass said even after CPS conducted three investigations into the allegation and concluded that no sexual abuse occurred, Florela McCorkle could not accept the truth. "The path that led Ms. McCorkle here today is in this court's opinion through her own making," Glass said.
"She (Florela McCorkle) did not like the response she received from the authorities and contacted everyone, people who had nothing to do with this. A line was crossed and you took matters into your own hands."
"This whole plan backfired and you're here and that beautiful child is in your former husband's custody," Glass said. "This really blew up in your face." Although Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens did not recommend a specific sentence be imposed, he did voice his disbelief that Florela McCorkle told the Department of Parole and Probation she never intended to go forward with having her ex-husband killed.
The prosecutor said videotape taken by the undercover officer posing as a hitman show Florela McCorkle requesting Robert McCorkle be killed while "he's on duty, like I said because it looks good."
Owens added that Florela McCorkle said she wanted Robert McCorkle to be "shot between the eyes, have his head chopped off, I don't care."
He said she is also recorded as saying she wanted to be around her friends when the shooting happened so she would have an alibi. "This doesn't sound like a person who didn't want to go forward with it," Owens said.
The prosecutor also raised an eyebrow at another section of her pre-sentencing report that said she was once "deceitful and manipulative, but now mistaken and sincere."
"She was not 'mistaken,' the whole history shows how she is trying to manipulate the process," Owens said. When given the opportunity to address the court Florela McCorkle cried and said, "I'm sorry to my family, to Rob and what they have gone through. I know what I did was wrong."
The slight woman stood before Glass in chains as she said she hoped to "better myself and go forward, I have God and a strong family on my side to get through this." Florela McCorkle's attorney, Stephen Stein, argued for probation, suggesting Glass follow the sentence issued by District Judge John McGroarty in the case of Nan Millen.
The 66-year-old Millen had been caught on video and audiotape by authorities as she talked with an undercover officer about when, where and how she wanted her husband, Richard Millen, killed. McGroarty suspended Millen's sentence of 44 to 60 months in prison and gave five years' probation with the first year to be served in jail.
Stein said both McCorkle and Millen had no previous criminal record, and aside from their ages and the fact Millen's husband wasn't a police officer, there was little difference between the cases. Glass later said while she appreciated Stein's argument and representations made concerning the Millen case, there are no sentencing guidelines in District Court and sentencing was left "up to each judge."
The judge could have sentenced McCorkle to anything from probation to two to 15 years in prison. Florela McCorkle was granted 484 days credit for time served. Before the courtroom was cleared, Glass singled out Robert McCorkle and family members present, reminding them that one day Florela McCorkle will get out of prison, and for the sake of their 6-year-old daughter, she hoped everyone would handle that reality "appropriately" for the girl's well being.
When given the opportunity to speak Tuesday, Robert McCorkle declined, saying as long as Glass had received a letter he had written to the judge he had already said enough.
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