A Kentucky jury came down hard on a Napa Valley man hired by a former California Highway Patrol captain to kill her husband in a twisted murder-for-hire plot – even after the killer’s distraught children begged for mercy.
Cumberland County jurors on Monday recommended the most severe penalty they could, life in prison, for Thomas O’Donnell, in the killing of Michael Harding, the estranged husband of CHP captain Julie Harding.
O’Donnell was convicted of murder by that same jury last Friday. The jurors could have recommended a sentence ranging anywhere from 20 to 50 years in prison, or life in prison, KCRA 3 reported.
It took the jury only about 30 minutes to unanimously agree on a life sentence for the stunned 64-year-old, who was placed in handcuffs and led out of the courtroom after the jurors issued their shocking decree.
Prosecutors said Harding hired O’Donnell to kill her husband amid a nasty divorce, and presented reams of evidence to prove their case over a trial that lasted weeks.
The jury heard from O’Donnell’s children, who asked for forgiveness for their now-convicted father.
They said the killer was fun and the life of the party. His life was a little chaotic, they said, and he was always searching for his soulmate and always had a new girlfriend.
O’Donnell’s daughter said he was too trusting of others.
Meanwhile, the dead man’s two children had traveled to Kentucky from Sacramento, to argue for justice for their dad.
They told the jury that their father was a good man, even though the family had been through a rough patch in recent years.
The slain father left leaves behind a twin brother, his mother, his two children and three grandchildren.
O’Donnell was arrested Dec. 8 at Sacramento International Airport. That same day, Harding was arrested in Kentucky on suspicion of criminal trespassing after allegedly harassing her husband’s girlfriend.
Two days later, Harding was found dead in what appeared to be a suicide.
The bizarre murder trial saw days of testimony from dozens of witnesses, including an FBI agent who walked jurors through shocking text messages that showed how O’Donnell lured his victim to a secluded home where he was killed.
Two days before the murder, O’Donnell’s phone was near Harding’s Sacramento home at the same time as hers.
Prosecutors argued this is when she hired him to kill her estranged husband.
On the day of the killing, prosecutors said, Harding’s phone was in Sacramento, while O’Donnell’s phone and the prepaid phone were near the crime scene in Kentucky.
Prosecutors also brought to DNA evidence and ammunition used in the killing on Sept. 19, 2022, at a vacant home on Glasgow Road in Burkesville.
“There’s no evidence someone else killed him,” said prosecutor Jesse Stockton in his closing remarks before the 12-member jury.
“All this evidence points to this amateur hitman from California,” Stockon added. “Do your duty. Find him guilty of murder.”
The jury’s recommendation for O’Donnell’s punishment is nonbinding. Judge David Williams will ultimately determine the length of O’Donnell’s imprisonment.
O’Donnell will receive about 3.5 years of credit for time served. At 20 years, he will be eligible for parole.
