The 49-year-old informant in a northern Idaho murder-for-hire drama has agreed to a plea deal in a related weapons and explosives case.
Larry Fairfax and federal prosecutors agreed he would plead guilty to one count of possession of an unregistered firearm and one count of making a firearm in violation of the National Firearms Act, according to a Coeur d’Alene Press story published Wednesday.
Each count carries a 10-year sentence.
Fairfax is accused of making bombs that lawyer Edgar Steele allegedly hoped would kill Steele’s wife and mother-in-law. Prosecutors say Fairfax became an informant in the case and wore a hidden recording device in meetings with Steele, a 64-year-old who gained attention a decade ago as a lawyer for members of the Aryan Nations racist group.
The 14-page document that outlines the plea agreement alleged that Fairfax and Steele had several conversations between November 2009 and June 2010 in which they discussed killing Cyndi Steele and her mother.
The documents said Steele had Fairfax put one pipe bomb under Steele’s own vehicle, providing him with an alibi after another pipe bomb exploded under his wife’s vehicle.
Steele has pleaded not guilty to hiring Fairfax as a hit man. He remained held in Kootenai County Jail, where he has been in custody since a federal raid at his Idaho home on July 11.
Federal prosecutors recently accused him of violating an order barring contact with his wife. They say he sent her a birthday card in which he sought help clearing him of charges.
The prosecutors have asked a U.S. District Court judge to consider whether the card violated an order issued in June to keep them apart. (AP)
