A Livingston County Jail inmate who police say solicited an individual to commit murder has been sentenced.

23-year-old James William Bonam of Brighton was ordered to serve a term of 7 to 25 years in prison on Thursday for his no contest plea to witness intimidation, solicitation to commit larceny over $20,000 and other charges. He had originally also been charged with two counts of solicitation to commit murder, but those counts were dropped in exchange for his plea.

Bonam was charged last July after authorities said he solicited Dale McLaughlin, a fellow inmate, while incarcerated in the county jail for a separate larceny case. McLaughlin informed authorities of the plan and then agreed to secretly record Bonam discussing the plan to kill a witness in his larceny case.

Bonam’s then-girlfriend, 20-year-old Matthea Mae Spicer of Fenton, was charged with one count of accessory after the fact to the solicitation of murder. Police said she assisted in the plan and was arrested after dropping off a pickup truck meant to serve as a partial payment for the killing. She is due back in court today for a pre-trial hearing and faces up to five years in prison if convicted. (JK)