MOSCOW, August 1 (RAPSI, Ingrid Burke) - Former US Marine Dejvid Mirkovic was sentenced to 24 years in prison Thursday after having pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill a US federal judge who had previously presided over the conviction of Mirkovic’s co-conspirator in a separate fraud case.

Mirkovic pleaded guilty in March to one count of a two-count indictment; specifically, to having conspired to kill the federal judge. According to a sentencing submission entered by his attorney in July, “As our client acknowledged before this Court, he agreed with another individual who was not a government agent to kill a federal judge and a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of New York on account of the performance of their duties.”

An affidavit in support of the application for arrest warrants filed in October contained claims providing further graphic detail of the plan. A court document quotes FBI Special Agent Reynauldo Tariche as having stated that Mirkovic had provided the undercover agents with specific requests from Romano concerning the nature of the planned murders. Notably, “[Romano] requested that the heads of both the Judge and the [prosecutor] be preserved in formaldehyde as souvenirs.”

In appealing to the judge for leniency in Mirkovic’s sentencing, attorney Susan Kellman pointed to trials and tribulations that her client had endured throughout his life, stating in her sentencing submission: “Given the defendant's life history, family circumstances, and the nature and circumstances of his involvement in the offense, we submit that a sentence below the guideline range is ‘sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to comply with the purposes’ of the sentencing factors,” referencing – in the internal quotes – to a reasonable sentencing standard under US law.

Toward this end, Kellman described Mirkovic as having been born in Bosnia in 1974, where he was raised in his early infancy by his grandmother while both of his parents worked in Germany. The year following his birth, he moved with his parents to South Africa. As a toddler, Mirkovic was in a terrible car accident that – while leaving him largely unscathed – left his parents with brutal injuries, requiring the whole family to live for months in a South African hospital.

In 1979, the Mirkovic’s set their sights on North America, according to the sentencing submission. The family moved to Canada, where young Mirkovic struggled throughout the course of his childhood and early adolescence to get a handle on the language, before gaining authorization to move to the US in 1990. They then moved to Florida.

After graduating from high school, Mirkovic entered the US Marines, where he served from 1993 to 1997. In the sentencing submission, Mirkovic is quoted as having described basic training as “the best thing [he] ever did in [his] life.” As a Marine, he earned medals for good behavior and faithful service, as well as for service during periods of conflict or national emergency.

After his stint as a Marine, which he served in southern California, he returned to Florida to be close to his father who was found to be in poor health.  He then married and tried for years to reproduce. Despite hurdles, he and his wife had a son in 2008, whom Mirkovic has not seen since his arrest, according to the submission.

Mirkovic had made a career for himself selling cars, but had been hit hard by the US recession – according to the sentencing submission – by the time he began his professional dealings with co-conspirator Joseph Romano.  Specifically, Mirkovic became an owner in name only of a Florida coin business. The two men split the profits from the business 50/50.

The sentencing submission claims that Mirkovic felt indebted to Romano for bringing him into the coin business after the economic hardships he had endured, and after Romano was arrested, Mirkovic continued to provide his family with money, and to meet with him in jail. 

According to the submission, “Prior to his sentencing, Romano hatched a plan from prison to murder the judge and prosecutor on his case. Romano asked Mirkovic to help him execute this plan, and Mirkovic agreed. On Romano’s behalf, Mirkovic met with two undercover agents posing as contract killers, and paid them $3,000 to commit an assault as a ‘test run’ of their services. After the agents provided photographic proof of the assault, Mirkovic negotiated the murder of the judge and prosecutor, providing $22,000 in advance payment, and promising $18,000 more upon confirmation of the murders. Mirkovic also offered to pay for one of the agents to travel to Florida for a period of time after the murders, and discussed a possible assault on his wife’s ex-husband, who had been causing him problems.” 

In November Romano and Mirkovic were indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on two counts of of Conspiracy to Murder an Employee of the United States.

In a statement announcing Mirkovic’s sentence Thursday, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York confirmed: “In pleading guilty on March 13, 2013, Mirkovic admitted under oath that he agreed to kill the federal judge in retaliation for the performance of the judge’s duties. Mirkovic further admitted under oath that he traveled to the Eastern District of New York in the fall of 2012 and made a down payment for the murder.”

Mirkovic’s sentencing submission contained excerpts of letters written by the defendant to the court, as well as to the judge and the prosecutor at the center of the plot. A letter to the court reads: “I want to sincerely apologize to Judge Bianco and AUSA Gatz, both of whom are dedicated public servants doing their job for our government…Had this scheme succeeded, two families would have been scarred for life; and why – because Judge Bianco and AUSA Gatz were performing their during; serving their country – as I had once done. Every time I write this, or think about it – I cringe…I truly had lost touch with the man I had been all of my life. I am extremely sorry for my actions and I can’t apologize enough to them both. My choices show a tremendous disrespect for our legal system and the rule of law.”

Mirkovic was sentenced by US District Judge John Keenan to 24 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and the forfeiture of upwards of $200,000, a car, and four firearms.