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Boston Man In Plot To Kill Worcester Prosecutor

A Boston man who is detained in Worcester while awaiting trial for his fifth drunk-driving case has been charged in federal court with plotting to hire someone to kill a state prosecutor.

Seventy-three-year-old Pernell Powell of Boston's Roxbury neighborhood was charged Monday in a criminal complaint with using the mail in the commission of a murder-for-hire. His attorney says Powell plans to plead not guilty.

Prosecutors allege that Powell wanted to kill an Assistant District Attorney in Worcester County because prosecutors recommended that he is jailed for four to six years, if convicted on his fifth charge of drunk driving.

They allege Powell offered to pay a former cellmate $4,000 to have someone in Coral Springs, Fla., kill the prosecutor. That cellmate alerted FBI to the plot.

This program aired on August 29, 2011. The audio for this program is not available.

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