ALBANY — A Colonie man who used his cellphone to arrange the murder of a romantic rival has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Jeal Sutherland, 58, was sentenced to 87 months behind bars after pleading guilty to using an interstate commerce facility in a murder-for-hire scheme targeting a Capital Region man. According to court documents, between November 2024 and January 2025, Sutherland arranged for the intended victim — the father of a child with Sutherland’s then-partner — to be killed.
Prosecutors said Sutherland agreed to forgive a debt owed by the person he hired to carry out the killing. He also agreed to pay an undercover FBI agent, whom he believed to be a hog farmer, to use a Pennsylvania farm to dispose of the victim’s body by having pigs consume it.
As part of the plot, Sutherland admitted directing another man to place the carcass of a Canada goose on the doorstep of the victim’s mother in late January 2025. A threatening note written at Sutherland’s direction was stuffed in the bird’s beak, authorities said.
The intended victim was not harmed. Sutherland was arrested on Jan. 27, 2025, and has remained in custody since then.
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino imposed a $15,000 fine and ordered three years of supervised release following Sutherland’s release from prison.
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