Eddie Smith Accused Of Soliciting Hitman

A notorious outdoorsman awaiting sentencing on a federal conviction for illegally possessing ammunition is now facing much more serious charges.

According to a federal indictment obtained by News Five, Eddie Smith, 43, plotted to kill the federal judge and prosecutor in the case.

Smith, who was indicted by a grand jury this week, allegedly solicited a man named Paul J. Albert and a person identified in the indictment as "E" to carry out the plot against U.S. District Judge William Steele and Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Bordenkircher.

The indictment says Smith, who continues to be held in Mobile-Metro Jail, made the threats from May 4 to June 8 of this year.

Smith was scheduled to be sentenced for the ammunition conviction on June 17, but the sentencing was continued. Both Steele and Bordenkircher have recused themselves from the case.

Smith has been in and out of jail since 2006 when he led police on a highway chase. Smith was chasing another man who was trailering a Hooters Boat. He also spent several months as a fugitive in 2007 when investigators say he fled to Costa Rica while serving a 90 day house arrest sentence on a harassment charge.

Smith was most recently arrested in November 2008 for theft of property. According to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office, he purchased a Ford Excursion from a car dealer in Wichita, Kansas and sent a cashier's check for a $1,000 down payment. He then wrote a personal check for $14,420 from an account that he knew had been frozen.

According to published reports, Smith was arrested more than twenty times between 1994 and 2006.

Smith faces 20 years in prison for each count of solicitation to commit murder, 10 years for each count of threatening to harm the victims and 5 years for lying to the FBI during the investigation.

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