The Associated Press

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - A man convicted of plotting from prison to kill his dead wife's sister because she had custody of his children was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The sentence will follow the 20-year-to-life sentence that Marcus Bloomfield is serving for the November 2000 rape and murder of his estranged wife, Jennifer.

Ross County Common Pleas Judge Nicholas Holmes gave Bloomfield the maximum sentence allowed for the conspiracy conviction on Tuesday, saying the 28-year-old Mansfield resident was likely to commit more crimes.

Prosecutors said Bloomfield offered a fellow Ross Correctional Institution inmate $10,000 in January 2002 to kill Debbie Davis upon the inmate's imminent parole. The inmate, Tom Bolin, told police about Bloomfield's proposal after his parole.

Bolin testified for the prosecution that Bloomfield wanted him to leave his sister-in-law's body in the same position as Bloomfield left his wife to make police believe someone else had committed the first murder.

Bloomfield wanted his mother, not Davis, to have custody of his children, prosecutors said.

Another inmate who testified for the defense claimed there was another plot to plant drugs at Davis' home.

Bloomfield has been moved to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

Bloomfield's lawyer, Daniel Silcott, said he would file an appeal but also asked the judge to name a new public defender.

Bloomfield criticized Silcott in court because he didn't subpoena or interview two people Bloomfield considered key to his defense. "He is either blatantly incompetent or tried to sabotage this case," he said.