Man sentenced for hired killing

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) A judge sentenced the man who concocted a hired killing that ended in the death of an innocent newlywed, and led police to his friend, serial killer Clifton Bloomfield.

Jason Skaggs, 36, was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

It was a mistaken identity murder that shocked a Northeast Heights neighborhood. In June 2008, Skaggs sent Bloomfield to break into a home and rough up a man who'd been sleeping with his wife.

However, that man had moved six months earlier and Bloomfield ended up fatally shooting the new homeowner Scott Pierce, 40 in front of his wife.

Bloomfield later confessed and pleaded guilty to murdering five people in Albuquerque including Pierce.

Investigators were then able to connect Skaggs to the Pierce murder after Bloomfield implicated him in the case.

This summer, Skaggs pleaded guilty to second degree murder and other crimes.