Gregory Allen Hess goes to trial this week in the York County Judicial Center for the first of his three murder solicitation charges.
Follow live coverage of the trial below or on Twitter @RickLeeYDR.
In this first case, Hess, 47, of North Codorus Township, is accused of hiring and paying a man in April 2014 to kill his estranged wife’s boyfriend.
Gregory Allen Hess
That purported hitman went to the police, who arranged a photo of the dead “victim” for the hitman to show to Hess.
When Hess handed the man an envelope containing money, police moved in and arrested him.
While still in custody and before he posted $10 million bail, Hess allegedly tried to hire a second hitman to kill the first one so he could not testify.
And when hitman No. 2 also went to the police, Hess reportedly attempted to hire a third man to kill the second hitman.
Hess, who remains in York County Prison in lieu of $20 million bail, will be prosecuted for the second and third alleged murder solicitations at a later date.
In 1993, Hess was investigated — and cleared — in the shooting death of Michael Osman. A coroner’s inquest determined that Osman threatened Hess with a knife in a dispute over a woman and that Hess killed him in self-defense.