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February 19, 2003

Woman gets two years

From: Greensburg Daily News, IN - 19 Feb 2003

Jim Cummings
Staff Writer
jim.cummings@cnhiindiana.com

Christina M. Adkins, a St. Paul woman who attempted to arrange the murder of her husband, was sentenced to two years in jail by Circuit Court Judge John Westhafer Monday.

Originally facing a 2- to 8-year sentence, she will be allowed to complete the remainder of her time on home detention. Adkins had been housed in Decatur County Jail since her arrest in June. She was given credit for time served and will wear a monitoring device on her ankle during the remainder of her sentence.

Adkins, who was caught in a sting operation, had the benefit of her husband's forgiveness and a positive sentencing report by the Decatur County Probation Department on her side.

"Her husband appeared with and sat next to her the entire time," said Decatur County Prosecutor Bill Smith, speaking of Monday's proceedings. "He made a request to the court that Christina not spend any more time in jail and both I and the court respected that."

In June, Adkins, 32, 105 N. Webster St., met several times with Sgt. Keith Gay in St. Paul, trying to arrange a deal for the murder of her 29-year-old husband, Eddie Adkins.

Gay, chief of police in Greensburg at the time, posed undercover as a hired hitman named Todd Barnes in dealings with the suspect.

Earlier this month, Adkins and her attorney, Michael G. Moore of Indianapolis, decided to forego a trial, with Adkins pleading guilty to attempted battery with a deadly weapon rather than face attempted murder charges, the original charge.

Moore was specifically assigned to Adkins because of his adeptness in communicating through sign language. He used that ability to converse with Adkins in court, who is deaf and mute.

"It was clear to all of us that Christina was not a threat to anyone else," Smith said. "She didn't have the money to complete the transaction with the undercover officers and didn't have the ability to carry out the task on her own."

Smith said another factor in allowing for home detention was the fact that Christina will be undergoing counseling in Indianapolis. If she were jailed, she would not be able to attend sessions everyone involved in the case believes are beneficial to her.

Smith also looked at the case from a human perspective.

"Overall, this was just a very sad situation," he said. "Thankfully, nobody got hurt and the couple can go on with their lives together."

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