As I Lay Dying’ Tim Lambesis has pleaded guilty to attempting to hire an undercover agent to murder his estranged wife.
The metal band singer, who initially denied the charge, could face nine years in prison for the attempted contract killing.
Tim Lambesis, 32, who formed As I Lay Dying in San Diego in 2000, has sold more than a million albums.
He remains free on $2 million bail until he is sentenced on May 2 in Vista Superior Court, California.
Tim Lambesis had asked a personal trainer at his gym to help him get rid of his wife Meggan, claiming she had restricted his visits with their three adopted children after they separated in September 2012.
The singer was arrested in May 2013 after prosecutors said he met a sheriff’s deputy posing as a hitman, called Red, and handed over $1,000 along with his wife’s address and front door security code.
The undercover agent, San Diego County Sheriff’s Officer Howard Bradley, testified last year that Tim Lambesis met him at an Oceanside bookshop in May and said he wanted his wife “gone”.
Howard Bradley said he asked Tim Lambesis directly if he wanted his wife killed, and the singer replied: “Yes, I do.”
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