Last week, the metal world was shocked to learn that As I Lay Dying singer Tim Lambesis had been arrested for attempting to hire a hitman to kill his estranged wife. While he has pleaded not guilty, the prosecution’s accusations at the arraignment (saying they have audio of Lambesis’ exchange with an undercover cop) as well as claims his ex-wife previously made in divorce documents paint a pretty bleak picture for the singer. However, Lambesis’ lawyer Anthony Salerno stands by his client’s not guilty plea, claiming that Lambesis may have been the victim of a setup.
Salerno recently took part in an interview with Artisan News to discuss the matter. In addition to revealing that the charges were initially a lot heavier (with the potential consequences being life in jail instead of the nine years he faces if found guilty), the attorney also insinuates that someone may have given false information about Lambesis to authorities in order to “save his own skin.” Audio of the entire interview can be heard below, but here is what Salerno had to say regarding the potential setup:
“I would anticipate myself asking for quite a bit of additional discovery, particularly on this person I strongly suspect is a snitch and is an informant for the police and was really creating this whole scenario and sort of setting Tim up… I believe there’s a good probability he may be a police informant. And that information is only available internally with the police department, or in this case the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, and through the D.A.’s office, and that’s something I’m gonna have to explore as well.”
Then Salerno mentioned that it seem somewhat coincidental that the estranged wife Meggan’s brother was a San Diego Sheriff’s deputy, saying:
“There’s one other element to this, too, which is… I don’t want to start to make accusations on this one unless I have some more information, but I will point out that Tim’s wife’s brother, I understand, is a San Diego Sheriff’s deputy, and I think I would be remiss if I didn’t fully explore that, ‘cause that is a little bit… it’s at the bare minimum very coincidental, and it may be more than that.”
We’re still trying to determine whether Meggan’s brother is indeed employed by the San Diego police department. However, though that definitely is a major coincidence, it still doesn’t change the fact that prosecution supposedly has audio of Lambesis attempting to hire a hitman to murder his ex-wife. As of this weekend, Lambesis is still being held in custody on a $3 million bail, while his next court date is set for June 10.
Audio of Salerno’s interview with Artisan News can be heard in the video below.
[youtube width=”500″ height=”344″]http://youtu.be/hYPIixEBFyE[/youtube]
