Two Women in ‘Hit Man’ Case to Stand Trial

A mother and her daughter were ordered Friday to stand trial in a murder-for-hire case in which police say the two tried to hire the same hit man to kill their husbands.

Venise Lynette Morris, 27, of La Mesa and Judith Lynette East, 45, of Paradise Hills face charges of soliciting for murder.

Morris faces one count and her mother is charged with two because she allegedly helped arrange the meeting between her daughter and undercover Detective Victor Shuman, who was posing as the hit man. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison.

Municipal Judge Robert P. Stahl Jr. dismissed conspiracy charges against the pair at Friday’s preliminary hearing because of a lack of evidence. In doing so, Stahl said some element of agreement between the two needed to have been demonstrated. The conspiracy charge carried a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to defense attorneys.

Shuman, of the San Diego Police Department’s Crime Intelligence Unit, testified at the hearing that both women made it clear they wanted him to kill their husbands.

“We’re not talking about beating someone up,” Shuman testified he said to Morris at a meeting near Mission Bay.

He said he used the word dead several times in relation to her husband, Michael, during the meeting and that Morris replied affirmatively.

“She basically didn’t care how I took care of the job” and was concerned only with establishing an alibi, Shuman said.

He said Morris offered him $5,000 to commit the murder.

“She wanted me to state a price, and at one point $5,000 was mentioned,” he said. “She said she could write a check for $1,000.”

The meeting was arranged by a police informant who also testified at the hearing. Roy Rivas said he approached police officials after East mentioned several times that she wanted her husband, Mark, dead.

Rivas testified that East said “she would like to get him killed, and there was some talk of a drug overdose. She kept bringing it up.”

Investigators say both women planned to pay for the murders with money received from life-insurance policies on their husbands.

The women remain in custody, with bail set at $30,000 for Morris and at $50,000 for East.