Grandma Gets 9 Years In Murder For Hire Scheme
By: Stephen Crews
Updated: June 7, 2012
A Columbiana woman was sentenced to nine years in prison for her role in a murder-for-hire scheme with her daughter. U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon sentenced Barbara Patterson for plotting the murder-for-hire with her daughter, Kimberly McGuffie, in 2009 so that McGuffie could get custody of two children.
The plan was to hire someone to murder Patterson's former son-in-law with a poison cocktail of prescription medication supplied, in part, by Patterson. The judge ordered Patterson to be taken immediately into custody.
A federal jury convicted Patterson of the conspiracy in February. McGuffie, 44, of Calera, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy in December and admitted she had conspired with her mother in the murder-for-hire scheme. McGuffie did not testify in her mother's trial. Judge Kallon sentenced McGuffie in May to 10 years in prison.
