Mastermind behind botched murder-for-hire gets 40 years in prison for educator’s killing

The decade-long investigation of a murder-for-hire gone wrong that killed a Baltimore teacher’s aide ended Thursday with the man who orchestrated the death sentenced to decades in prison.

U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie Gallagher sentenced Matthew Hightower to 40 years in prison for the May 27, 2016, fatal shooting of Latrina Ashburne, 41, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

“Witness intimidation strikes at the heart of our justice system,” Maryland U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes said in a statement. “... Today’s sentence demonstrates our unwavering commitment to pursuing anyone who threatens or attempts to harm witnesses. We will continue to work with our federal and local partners to ensure that witness intimidation is met with firm and decisive accountability.”

At the time of her death, Ashburne, 41, lived next door to a federal witness whom Hightower wanted killed for providing information about his involvement in a healthcare fraud scheme. The men Hightower hired to kill the witness mistakenly shot and killed Ashburne instead.

Federal authorities arrested and convicted those men, but it would take three more years to bring the case against Hightower, who pleaded guilty last year.

The 44-year-old, originally from Baltimore, has been serving a 31-year prison sentence for healthcare fraud and the murder of another man, and his sentence for Ashburne’s murder will be served concurrently.

Federal prosecutors wanted a 60-year sentence in addition to the sentence Hightower was already serving, while Hightower’s defense attorney asked for a sentence of 30 years.

“This Court is not asked to forgive what happened to Latrina Ashburne, or to pretend that any sentence could restore what her family has lost,” defense attorneys Daniel Goldman and Teresa Whalen wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “It is asked only to impose a sentence that leaves open the possibility, not the promise, that Mr. Hightower will live some portion of his final years as a free man rather than dying in federal custody.”

Federal prosecutors called Hightower “a businessman, a hustler, a successful drug dealer” who “knew exactly what he was doing” when he hired the contract killers, Davon Carter and Clifton Mosley.

Hightower was initially charged in 2015 with healthcare fraud — a scam to overcharge Medicaid for adult diapers — and with killing a man named David Wutoh, who owed him money.

A search of Hightower’s prison cell on the day of Ashburne’s murder turned up a piece of paper containing a list of names and phone numbers that included Carter.

Carter and Mosley are serving life sentences for the killing.

An unidentified member of Ashburne’s family wrote to the judge before sentencing, saying the drawn-out nature of the case had been difficult, but the sentence would allow them some measure of closure.