Nevada mom who tried to hire hit man over internet to kill ex-husband sentenced to prison

In an awkward scene in a Sacramento courtroom, a Nevada woman who tried to hire a hit man over the internet to kill her ex-husband was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday — as the ex looked on from the gallery.

Kristy Lynn Felkins, 38, of Fallon, apologized to U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley for what her lawyer says was an uncharacteristic criminal act brought on by untreated postpartum psychosis.

“I am so sorry for what I did,” Felkins told the judge. “I lost my mind.”

Felkins pleaded guilty last year to a charge of murder for hire after she tried to pay a hit man in 2016 using 12 Bitcoin — about $5,000 at the time — to kill her ex-husband, Gabriel Scott of North Carolina. Her effort to use the dark web “Besa Mafia” site failed spectacularly. The person she was communicating with — and who tried to get her to cough up more money to conduct the hit — was a scam artist who was later arrested, something Felkins said she was grateful for.

“I do thank God every day that the person I talked to was a scam artist,” she told the judge. “I’m very glad that no harm came to Gabe, and I wish I could undo it all.”

Scott, who was summoned before Nunley so the judge could ask his opinion before sentencing Felkins, said he had been “very, very surprised” when he learned of her efforts to hire someone to kill him as he was traveling.

He said Felkins had been “a wonderful mother” and that their divorce had been “as amicable as you could expect.”

But Scott said he felt that Felkins deserved a prison sentence of some sort.

“The intent to end someone’s life, yes, I believe that should be as substantial as the law allows,” he told Nunley.

Felkins could have received up to 10 years, and prosecutors argued in court filings for a sentence of 7 years, three months.

Felkins’ federal defender, Linda Harter, asked for no prison time and supervised release, arguing strenuously that her client was suffering from deep mental problems at the time of her actions, that she had no criminal history, that she had been a victim of child sexual abuse and had been abused by her ex-husband.

She said Felkins does not pose a danger to anyone, and noted that Scott did not object to her release from custody in 2020 after her arrest.

Harter also noted that Felkins has four children ranging in age from 19- to 1-year-old, and that she has strong support from her community and her family, including her current husband and other family members who were in court with her.

“There are not many cases that cause me to lose sleep after 30 years,” Harter told the judge. “But this one has.

“There is no doubt in my mind that she does not pose a danger.”

Harter conceded that Felkins’ actions were “crazy,” and that Felkins herself could not understand why she acted the way she did.

“She felt like she was outside herself or looking at somebody else’s life,” Harter said. “It’s unfathomable that this person could have gone on the web and sent the emails that she did.

“I just don’t see any purpose in putting her in prison at this point.”

Nunley conceded that it was “really sad,” said her actions deserved prison time.

“If the so-called hit man was not a scam artist we’d be having a much different case today,” the judge said. “I don’t think any sentence in this case could do anyone justice.”

The judge ordered her to surrender by Sept. 29 and said he would recommend she serve her time at federal prisons in Victorville or Dublin to allow her to be near her family. Some of her family members burst into tears as they left the courtroom with Felkins.

Scott said outside the courtroom that he wasn’t sure how he felt about the outcome.

“There’s no appropriate sentence in this case,” he said.

But Harter said after the proceeding that she was “heartbroken” at the sentence.

“She went untreated for a serious mental illness,” Harter said. “It’s incredibly sad.”