Bail Cut to $1.5 Million for Man Accused of Having Wife Killed

A judge cut bail in half Friday for a man accused of hiring a hit man to kill his wife, allegedly to collect $100,000 in insurance payoffs.

Charles Schmidt, a 28-year-old Navy corpsman from Spring Valley, will be held in lieu of $1.5 million until a preliminary hearing for him and his co-defendant July 27.

“There is a very strong likelihood that special circumstances will be filed for murder for financial gain and while lying in wait,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Pettine, who added that he may seek the death penalty.

Pettine said Schmidt collected a total of $75,000 from two life insurance policies. An additional $25,000 in insurance money went to the victim’s parents after a lawsuit, he said.

Municipal Judge Harvey Hiber halved Schmidt’s $3-million bail, even though defense attorney Glorene Franco said her client would not have a chance of being released unless bail was set at $300,000

Prosecutors have charged Schmidt and Noel Patrick Armstrong, a 22-year-old Reno man, with conspiring to murder Patricia Schmidt, who was gunned down on June 15, 1989.

While jogging along a Spring Valley road, Patricia Schmidt was shot in the back of the head. Her husband first reported that she was killed by a hit-and-run driver, but an autopsy found a bullet in her head.

Schmidt hired Armstrong for $1,000 to shoot his wife as he drove by her on a motorcycle, according to Pettine. However, Armstrong only received $400 for his services, prosecutors said.

Both men have admitted their role in the crime, authorities said.