Teen Hired Hit Man To Kill Fetus

An 18-year-old pleaded guilty to trying to hire a hit man to kill his ex-girlfriend's nearly full-term fetus and was sentenced to more than six years in prison.

Charles D. Young received 76½ months in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to first-degree solicitation to commit manslaughter. State law allows for such a count when a viable fetus is the intended target.

Prosecutors allege Young, then 17, offered an undercover officer posing as a hit man $3,250 last October to injure his estranged 17-year-old girlfriend so badly that her fetus would die.

Young was arrested after a classmate learned of his plan and went to police, who arranged to have Young and the undercover officer meet, prosecutor John Troberg said. Young said in a recorded conversation that he didn't care whether his former girlfriend survived the attack, Troberg said.

Young, of Suncrest, northwest of Spokane, apologized to the girl and her family at sentencing, Troberg said.

Young, who learned of the pregnancy after breaking up with the girl, initially expressed interest in raising his child but later told his ex-girlfriend he wanted nothing to do with the baby, the prosecutor said.

Young's attorney, Bevan Maxey, said his client is an intelligent young man who got bad advice.