FAYETTEVILLE -- A Lincoln woman charged with hiring a hit man to kill her estranged husband had her case in Washington County Circuit Court delayed Wednesday after public defenders said they had a conflict representing her.
Jamie Lee Cianflone, 48, of 312 W. Pridemore Drive was arrested in September 2014 in connection with felony solicitation to commit capital murder.
Cianflone thought she was hiring a hit man to kill her estranged husband, who lives in Florida, but the hit man turned out to be an undercover detective who was wearing a recording device, according to an arrest report.
Cianflone was set to appear in court Wednesday but Blake Chancellor, deputy public defender, filed a motion to withdraw as counsel and have a new lawyer appointed to represent Cianflone. According to the motion, the conflict is due to representing a witness in a related case.
Judge Mark Lindsay reset the case to Sept. 2.
Police had been tipped to Cianflone's intent by a confidential informant and set up a sting operation, according an arrest report.
Cianflone told the detective she could gain financially by killing her husband, according to the report. Cianflone told the detective her husband cheated her out of large sums of money for child support and other things and she wanted what was rightfully hers.
Cianflone also told the detective she wanted her estranged husband killed so brutally that, "his own mother would not be able to identify the body."
Cianflone agreed to pay $5,000 for the murder, according to the report.
Doctors at the Arkansas State Hospital found Cianflone mentally fit to stand trial, according to an evaluation filed in July.
Cianflone told doctors she felt drugged the day she met with the undercover detective and felt her boyfriend had set her up. Cianflone also said she was scared, panicked and intimidated by the detective and just wanted to be home and away from the man. She felt she was in danger when he showed her a machete.
Cianflone suffered from major depressive disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and had borderline personality traits at the time of the evaluation, according to doctors.
Doctors said Cianflone didn't have a mental disease or defect at the time of the alleged conduct and she didn't lack the capacity to appreciate the criminality of her conduct and didn't lack the capacity to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law.
Cianflone is being held at the Washington County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bond.
NW News on 08/20/2015