A 34-year-old Baltimore pastor who worked with the developmentally disabled pleaded guilty Friday to his role in a conspiracy to kill a blind man for life insurance money.
Kevin Pushia (at right) faces life in prison in the death of Lemuel Wallace, who was found in a Leakin Park bathroom shot multiple times in the head and back in February 2009. Prosecutor Robin Wherley said Pushia confessed to taking out multiple life insurance policies in Wallace's name, then paying a hit man $50,000 to kill him.
That money had come from the treasury of a small East Baltimore church where Pushia was a pastor.
Pushia, who had worked as an operations manager for the Arc of Baltimore, confessed after police serving a search warrant found a notation in his planning calendar for Feb. 5, the day after Wallace was killed, that read, "L.W. project completed," prosecutors said.
"Mr. Pushia made some poor decisions, and got himself in a very difficult position," said defense attorney Russell Neverdon outside the courthouse. "His plea was an effort to purge himself, emotionally and spiritually."
Sentencing was not disclosed at Friday's hearing in Baltimore Circuit Court. A co-defendant, James Omar Clea, is scheduled to stand trial on Nov. 8.