(Newswire.net — February 16, 2015) — Amid controversy surrounding Oscar nominated ‘American Sniper’, story of another not so heroic American sniper emerges. Joseph Hunter, aka Rambo after the hero of the 1980s action films, pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill a Federal Agent and an informant.
After 20 years in service, the 49-year-old ex US Army sharp shooter becomes a mercenary with only one goal – the money. Allegedly, he formed an international band of snipers as mercenaries. After pleaded guilty for plot the assassinations in US, Hunter faces up to 10 years in prison.
Hunter was secretly recorded while he organizes the assassination of the federal agent and an informant. He received a job from drug traffickers ho were actually undercover DEA agents. For the service, American sniper received a total of $800,000.
The group of five international contract killers – three of them was ex military snipers – was arrested before they perform the murders, in September 2013
Hunter decided to avoid a trial set for 9 March, and tries to spare his family of public humiliation by pleading guilty, despite believing the government had unlawfully entrapped him, defense lawyer Marlon Kirton told Reuters news agency.
Kirton defends his client claiming the former soldier’s judgment had been “severely affected by post-traumatic stress and depression after two decades in the US army,” the lawyer said.
US Attorney Preet Bharara said Hunter became a “soldier of misfortune who recruited and led an international band of criminal mercenaries.”
“This global gun for hire will now be confined stateside in federal prison,” he said.
Three others charged in the case have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Another defendant is awaiting a trial scheduled to start next month.