Elderly Texas Inmate Accused of Prosecutor Murder Plot

An 84-year-old woman jailed on a theft charge is now accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill one Houston-area prosecutor and maim his boss.

Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon said Monday that Dorothy Canfield allegedly sought to have him attacked and his assistant district attorney, Rob Freyer, killed.

Ligon says Canfield faces charges of solicitation of capital murder and solicitation to commit aggravated assault. She was being held in jail in Conroe, 30 miles north of Houston, on a property theft charge.

Ligon says Canfield allegedly wanted the attacks to appear similar to the recent unsolved killings of McLelland County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife, and Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse.

Online jail records don't list an attorney for the elderly woman.

Associated Press