Guilty Plea in Murder-For-Hire Scheme Involving Swine Disposal Plot

A plea of guilty has been entered by Jeal Sutherland, 57, in a disturbing murder-for-hire case where he intended to use hogs to dispose of the victim's body. The charge entails using interstate commerce channels with the intent of orchestrating a hit on a man from the Albany region, a crime for which he faces up to a decade behind bars.

The admission was made in a northern New York federal court midweek.

According to legal records, Sutherland plotted to murder a man who shares a child with Sutherland's former partner. In a strategy to execute his scheme, Sutherland promised to waive the debt of the would-be assassin. Moreover, he engaged someone he presumed to be managing a pig farm, negotiating payment to utilize the farm as a hideout for the body by feeding it to the swine.

However, unbeknownst to Sutherland, this 'farmer' was in fact an undercover FBI operative. His arrest took place in January, ensuring the target remained unharmed.

Before his arrest, another individual had been hired by Sutherland to deliver a dead Canadian goose, along with a menacing note lodged in its beak, to the door of the intended victim's mother's home, as detailed by the Department of Justice.

U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone remarked, "Jeal Sutherland concocted a brutal plan to eliminate a personal rival and menaced the prospective victim's family."

Sutherland's potential sentencing includes a monetary penalty reaching $250,000 and a post-incarceration supervision period of up to three years. His sentencing is calendared for September 22, 2025.