Guilty Plea in 'Hit' Plot Against Kelly

A Rikers Island inmate who had been accused of attempting to hire a hit man to kill Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly has copped a plea, Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced.

David Brown has pleaded guilty Sept. 24 to one count of second-degree criminal solicitation, a felony, which is punishable by a maximum sentence of up to 7 years in prison. As part of his plea, Mr. Brown will receive a sentence of between three and six years when he appears before Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven Barrett on Nov. 7.

The Rikers Island inmate admitted he had conversations with an undercover police officer whom he believed to be a hit man between Feb. 21 and Feb. 23, 2007. He agreed to pay as much as $150,000 to kill Commissioner Kelly and blow up One Police Plaza. The conversations occurred twice on the phone and once in person at the jail compound, where he was serving time for violating an order of protection stemming from a domestic violence case in Brooklyn.

Assistant District Attorney Jan Kum of the Rackets Bureau is prosecuting the Bronx case.