Describing the crime as “truly beyond imagination,” a federal judge imposed a 40-year sentence against a man who admitted to paying someone to kill his romantic rival in Simpson County.

Freddy Gonzalez, 40, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green after previously pleading guilty to a count of murder through use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

Gonzalez acknowledged paying Xavior Posey to kill Brian Russell, 43, of Franklin, at Russell’s home on Dec. 30, 2020.

Evidence emerged through court filings that Gonzalez had been in a relationship with Russell’s ex-wife, Miranda Russell, for several months during 2020, but she ended the relationship with Gonzalez in the early fall, briefly reconsidered and then reconciled with Brian Russell in December 2020.

Federal prosecutors said that Gonzalez hired Posey, who worked for him at his restaurant in Franklin, offered to pay Posey $2,000, along with a pickup truck and a pay raise at the restaurant if Posey killed Russell.

Gonzalez supplied Posey with the gun and ammunition to carry out the shooting, court records show.

A week before the sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Weiser disclosed in a court filing that Gonzalez test-drove a truck from a Bowling Green used car lot, copied the key and then gave the key to Posey to steal the truck that would have been used in the homicide.

After the truck was stolen, Posey got a ride from Andy Schmucker, traveling from Bowling Green to Franklin.

Schmucker dropped off Posey near Russell’s Portland Avenue home, and Posey walked to the house, knocked on the door and shot Russell three times when he answered.

Posey was to be sentenced Tuesday afternoon after pleading guilty to the same offense as Gonzalez, and Schmucker awaits sentencing on a charge of being an accessory after the fact to a murder for hire.

“To arrange for Mr. Posey to walk up to Mr. Russell’s house, knock on his door and murder him in cold blood is truly the most outrageous, unimaginable crime I can think of,” U.S. District Court Chief Judge Greg Stivers said as he imposed the sentence on Gonzalez.

Federal prosecutors led by Weiser negotiated with Gonzalez’s defense team of attorneys Brian Butler and Mike Benbow to craft a plea agreement that recommended a punishment of between 25-40 years for Gonzalez.

A grand jury had previously indicted Gonzalez and Posey on a charge of murder for hire, which carries a mandatory life sentence and is eligible for the death penalty.

The U.S. Department of Justice decided against seeking the death penalty, but Stivers said that the circumstances surrounding the “cold, calculated and callous murder” would have justified a life sentence for Gonzalez and would have presented a strong argument for a death sentence.

Stivers, though, deferred to the terms of the plea agreement negotiated by the attorneys, acknowledging that Gonzalez accepted responsibility for his actions.

Reading from a written statement, Gonzalez spoke out for the first time in court about his actions, offering an apology to Russell’s family and his own family, each of whom had several members present in the courtroom.

“To Brian’s family, I am ashamed to no end at the pain and suffering I put you in because of my jealousy and desperation,” Gonzalez said. “I have to live with the hurt I caused and the decisions I made. To my family, I’m sorry I let you all down and disgraced the family’s name … I am truly and deeply sorry for the hurt I caused you and your families.”

Brian Russell’s son and daughter both read victim impact statements to the court, standing with Weiser.

“I lost my best friend and my first baseball coach,” Russell’s son, Ilan Russell, said. ‘He raised me to be the person I am today, to take care of my family … the day I found out my father passed, my happiness was gone.”

Butler argued for a 25-year prison term for Gonzalez, saying that the crimes occurred amid the backdrop of a strain on his mental health brought on by caring for his aging parents, raising two teenage children and managing a restaurant during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gonzalez’s relationship with Miranda Russell offered him a source of stability, but after it ended, Gonzalez “lost it” and went to desperate, and ultimately criminal, lengths to try to keep her in his life, Butler said.

“That’s not an excuse, but it explains the psychology of what was going on in his head,” Butler said.

Butler also noted Gonzalez’s record of military service with the U.S. Army National Guard and argued that a 25-year sentence was in line with what federal defendants received in criminal cases with comparable circumstances.

Weiser argued that Gonzalez’s actions merited a 40-year sentence, saying that Gonzalez was responsible for engaging Posey in the crime and directing when, where and how the murder would take place.

Weiser also noted that Gonzalez disposed of the firearm parts with Posey and the two communicated with one another in code over text messages about the killing, referring to it as “cleaning the kitchen.”

“There is no more serious offense than a premeditated murder,” Weiser said in court. “This was planned over several weeks. Simply put, it does not get any more serious than this.”