The Washington state woman who pleaded guilty to hiring two teens to kill her ex-husband learned her fate on Friday.
Shaerin Rose Kelley was sentenced to more than 13 years, 165 months, in prison after admitting to hiring two 17-year-olds to shoot and kill her ex-husband, Baron Li, on July 10, 2020.
Li was shot nine times at his apartment complex in Bellevue but incredibly survived and recovered.
On the day of the shooting, police said one 17-year-old got his friend to drive him from Mount Vernon to the Overlook at Lakemont apartments in Bellevue, where court documents say, “he was going cap someone and empty the clip.”
Police said the 17-year-old gunman ambushed Li as he was walking to his car.
According to court documents, the motive in all this was Kelley’s anger toward Li in a bitter custody dispute over their son with special needs.
Kelley pleaded guilty to hiring two 17-year-olds to kill him for $13,000. Li was at Friday’s sentencing, and he believes 14 years “still isn’t enough.”
Initial probable cause documents said Kelley stood to obtain significant funds if she had sole custody, which pointed to a possible motive.
However, in Kelley’s plea agreement, she admitted to the crime but wrote in a statement it was not done for any financial benefit to her.
Kelley was initially charged with first-degree attempted murder. She eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, solicitation to commit murder in the second degree, which carries a maximum sentence of 13.75 years in prison.
The two co-defendants, who were 17 at the time, also pleaded guilty to lesser charges. One was sentenced for attempted first-degree murder, and the other who pulled the trigger was sentenced to attempted murder and unlawful possession of a firearm.