A federal jury in Corpus Christi needed roughly one hour to convict Aramis Stuckman on all eight counts tied to a $50,000 murder-for-hire scheme aimed at officers inside a South Texas federal prison. The 39-year-old now faces a maximum of 130 years behind bars after prosecutors proved he tried to pay for the torture and killing of federal correctional staff while he was locked up at FCI Three Rivers.
The verdict came Tuesday following a two-day trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, according to the Department of Justice. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales-Ramos presided over the case and has set sentencing for December 1, with Stuckman remaining in federal custody until then. FBI Houston announced the guilty verdict on social media, tagging the case as an FBI Corpus Christi and Bureau of Prisons investigation.
Letters Smuggled to Guards Threatened Retaliation
The plot dates back to October 2024, when Stuckman was serving time at FCI Three Rivers. He wrote three separate letters offering up to $50,000 for the assault, torture, and murder of multiple federal officers, then passed the notes to three different guards, per the same Justice Department account. In one especially chilling detail, he explicitly warned one of those guards that the officer would become the next target if the letter ever made it to authorities.
FCI Three Rivers is a medium-security federal correctional institution in Live Oak County, roughly 73 miles northwest of Corpus Christi and 80 miles south of San Antonio, housing about 1,150 male inmates, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The complex includes a main medium-security facility alongside an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp, the agency notes.
Defense Argued He Lacked Money and Didn't Write the Notes
Stuckman's defense team pushed back hard at trial, arguing he never actually wrote the solicitation letters and didn't have the financial means to carry out a $50,000 murder plot even if he had. Jurors rejected both arguments, returning guilty verdicts on all eight counts after prosecutors laid out corroborating evidence during the two-day proceeding, the Justice Department's account states.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Bureau of Prisons' Special Investigative Services, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ashley Martin and Tyler Foster. Public judicial filings show Stuckman, who has also gone by the alias Justin K. Harris, previously spent time incarcerated in state facilities in New Jersey and Ohio between 2010 and 2019, according to records from the Supreme Court of Ohio.
What the Federal Charges Carry
The eight-count conviction spans solicitation of murder, solicitation of assault, and threatening a law enforcement officer. Each murder solicitation count carries up to 20 years in federal prison, while the assault solicitation and officer-threat counts each carry up to 10 years, plus fines of as much as $250,000 per count, per the Justice Department. Federal sentencing guidelines will ultimately shape whatever term Judge Gonzales-Ramos imposes in December, even though the statutory maximum across all counts adds up to 130 years.
The prosecution leaned on two federal statutes built specifically for cases like this one. Title 18 U.S.C. § 373, according to the U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel, makes soliciting a federal felony involving physical force punishable by up to half the maximum sentence for the underlying crime — even if the plot never gets carried out. A separate statute, Title 18 U.S.C. § 1114, specifically criminalizes killing or attempting to kill any U.S. government officer or employee, including Bureau of Prisons staff, while they're on duty or on account of their official duties.
