A Pickaway County woman, whose criminal conviction in a murder-for-hire plot was thrown out due to a paperwork error, was back in court on Wednesday.
Tara Lambert, 35, of Ashville, again pleaded not guilty charges that she attempted to hire a hitman to kill her former husband and his ex-girlfriend in 2015.
Lambert is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. She was caught on tape discussing the plot with an undercover detective she had allegedly hired to carry out the killings. Authorities say she even provided the detective with $125 as a down payment.
At trial, Lambert was found guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder against her husband’s ex-girlfriend, but was acquitted of the charge of conspiracy against her former husband. She was sentenced to seven years in February of 2016 but the conviction was later overturned by an appellate court, citing a paperwork error in the original indictment.