Local News in Brief : Sentencing in Death Plot
A man who admitted plotting to kill a wealthy physician for $90,000, which allegedly was to be paid by the doctor’s son, has been sentenced to four years in state prison.
Thomas A. Callahan, 27, pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit murder. As part of a plea bargain, charges of attempted murder and residential burglary were dismissed when he was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Gordon Ringer.
Callahan, who could have been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, has agreed to testify against the doctor’s son, David Ellis, 21, if he is ever charged in the attempt on his father’s life. Prosecutors describe Ellis as an uncharged suspect.
A co-defendant, Eric Barnes, 22, of Hollywood, who prosecutors said shot Dr. Robert Ellis four times in the head and chest as he lay in bed in his Hollywood Hills residence on Dec. 2, was sentenced earlier this month to 12 years in prison. The elder Ellis survived the shooting.
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