A Circuit Court judge denied yesterday the request of a Glen Burnie man to reduce the eight-year sentence imposed on him last July for trying to hire a hit man to kill the man dating his former girlfriend.
Judge Lawrence H. Rushworth, who ordered the sentence for Joseph R. Gadow, 36, as part of a plea bargain, turned down the request.
Gary Christopher, Gadow's lawyer, said his client requested the hearing because he has been working at the jail and felt his model behavior warranted the reduction.
Gadow pleaded guilty in July to hiring the trooper to kill Thomas Michaels of Crownsville, who was seeing a woman Gadow had lived with for six years.
In deciding the sentence, Judge Rushworth adhered to a plea agreement that meant Gadow would receive the low end of the range recommended by sentencing guidelines, which was eight years. After his release, Gadow will be on probation for four years.
According to court records, Gadow met with the undercover trooper three times before his arrest on Dec. 18 and made two down payments, one for $25 and a second for $75, toward the $500 contract on Mr. Michaels' life.
Gadow discussed with the trooper several methods for killing Mr. Michaels, all of which would make the death appear accidental.