LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The same day a former Norton Commons doctor pleaded guilty in April to trying to hire a hitman to kill her ex-husband, she solicited other inmates "in a renewed effort to find someone to murder" him, according to prosecutors.

Stephanie Russell pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on April 22 to charges of murder-for-hire and stalking with a proposed sentence calling for between 97 months and 144 months in prison.

U.S. District Court Judge David Hale will ultimately decide her sentence July 31.

In a pre-sentencing memo filed Monday, the U.S. District Attorney's office said they learned the day after the guilty plea that Russell was still trying to have her husband, Rick Crabtree, killed.

The evidence, according to prosecutors, includes a letter postmarked April 22, 2024, sent by another pretrial detainee to her boyfriend at Russell's behest.

"Russell wanted to know if the boyfriend knew anyone who would be willing to kill her ex-husband," according to the memorandum.

The letter included the name and address of Russell's ex-husband and personal identifying information only Russell would know, prosecutors claim.

Several other female inmates also came forward with information about Russell's request, according to court documents.

The prosecution notes that despite the alleged actions, the government is not allowed to withdraw the plea agreement but can and does request the maximum sentence of 12 years in prison.

Defense attorneys also filed a sentencing memorandum saying "the defense does not concede the truthfulness of the alleged post-plea misconduct" but accepted that any prison sentence in the range proposed would be "sufficient."

The defense included dozens of letters from Russell's friends and family in support of her.

"The truth of this case is that Ms. Russell is — like so many people — many things at once, good and bad simultaneously," the defense wrote.

Also, the defense claims Russell "was mentally ill when she engaged in her criminal conduct."

Russell was convicted of contacting an undercover FBI agent, who was posing as a hitman, and agreeing to pay $7,000 to the agent in exchange for murdering her ex-husband. Russell left a partial payment of $3,500 outside her medical office in a drop box and agreed to pay the other half after her ex-husband was killed.

Authorities also found more than $2,000 in her home that was supposed to be used to pay a hit man.

The state will keep $5,000 as part of the guilty plea.

Russell's defense attorneys had claimed she was "delusional" and acting under "extreme emotional disturbance" in fear of her children's safety at the time of the crime. Russell and her husband had been in a custody battle.

As proof, they included text messages she sent a Brazilian "spiritual healer" saying she was "looking for a death spell" for her ex-husband, asking how much it would cost and whether a sacrifice would be used.

The unnamed woman responded the price rate would depend on the number of people involved but that she had an 85% death rate and it could be done within hours using Voodoo. The woman also promised a 100% guarantee or Russell's money would be returned, according to the messages sent on April 22, 2022.

When asked by Russell what kind of spell would be used, the healer replied, "it's a death spell my dear not a love spell," according to the records filed in U.S. District Court last month. "I can't tell you inside details, but I will do your job."

Russell asked multiple employees where she worked if they knew someone who would kill her husband, according to her guilty plea. The FBI was notified and Russell was recorded several times in phone conversations with a purported hitman who was actually with the FBI.

"I want him completely gone from my life," she said, according to the guilty plea. "I mean, do you like, do they disappear? Do you like shoot them on the road. Like what happens? Or should I just not know."

The stalking charge was related to Russell using another person to pose as a WAVE 3 reporter and going to her ex-husband's office, leaving him accusatory voicemails and putting notes in his garage pretending to be "writing a derogatory story" about him.

This story may be updated.

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