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Blake Scanlon, age 26, of Westfield, pleaded not guilty to two counts of solicitation to commit murder and one count of solicitation to intimidate a witness before Hampshire Superior Court Judge John Agostini Thursday, May 20, said the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.
Scanlon had been in jail awaiting trial on a charge of murder in connection with the slaying of Alexis Avery, 20, in January of 2019. The two lived together and had a child together.
The alleged murder-for-hire scheme dates back to 2020 and the targets were Hampden County Assistant District Attorney Matthew Green, the prosecutor in Scanlon’s murder case, and witness Ericalynn Condurcari, the DA's Office said.
In the plot, Scanlon is alleged to have recruited a fellow inmate to arrange for someone to carry out the murders.
Part of the plot included instructions to intimidate Condurcari, a witness in the murder case, from testifying, if the murder could not be arranged.
The plot came to the attention of authorities when the inmate Scanlon allegedly recruited disclosed the plot, the DA's Office said.
Scanlon’s case was continued to August. He remains in jail while awaiting trial on the murder case.
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