Jennifer Reba Emmi
An animal rights attorney in Colorado who hosts her own show on Facebook pleaded guilty to a slew of felonies in connection with an alleged plot to have her estranged husband’s girlfriend killed, the Brighton, Colo. Standard Blade reported this week. In addition to the murder-for-hire plot, Jennifer Reba Emmi, 43, who is also known as Jennifer Reba Edwards, had been accused of holding a knife to her husband’s throat, strangling her child, and threatening to drive her car into a tractor trailer with the couple’s children in the vehicle.
According to the Standard Blade, Emmi pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit second-degree murder, menacing, heat-of-passion strangulation, attempting to influence a judge, violation of a bail bond, retaliation against a witness, and stalking, all of which are felonies. She also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of child abuse, criminal mischief, reckless driving, and evidence tampering.
By taking the plea deal, prosecutors dismissed 11 other felony charges and 12 misdemeanor charges Emmi was facing, according to a report from People.
Emmi’s attorney Colin Bresee told the Standard Blade that he is asking the judge to sentence Emmi to probation, but he said prosecutors have already signaled that they will be asking for her to serve time in prison.
Emmi — who was arrested in January following a multi-month investigation — regularly appeared on news shows in the region and hosted a popular Facebook show about animals.
Following her arrest, she told Denver television station KDVR that she had been set up.
“I was set up, and I have been repeatedly set up. All I can say is I want the truth to come out. The whole thing is crazy. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Emmi, of Evergreen, Colo., allegedly approached two employees on her Colorado ranch about killing her husband’s girlfriend, who previously worked as an au pair for the couple.
According to a 35-page affidavit filed in January, a 28-year-old man approached the sheriff’s office on November 2, 2020 to say that Emmi, his employer, asked him to “take care of” her soon-to-be ex-husband’s girlfriend. He understood this to mean homicide. In this version of events, he asked the defendant to clarify if she wanted just the girlfriend killed or the husband as well. “Just her,” Emmi allegedly said.
The witness made clear to authorities he wanted nothing to do with the plot, calling the defendant “psychotic,” and saying that she did not care about the ramifications of her actions. According to investigators, the man contacted them again to say he spoke with Emmi another time and recorded it. In this conversation, the defendant allegedly discussed using the 28-year-old as a middleman to a potential hitman in Texas. The informant asked if she was serious about going through with the plot. Emmi allegedly said yes, and they discussed a possible start-up cost of $2,500 to $5,000.
This time, the defendant was allegedly open to also having her husband killed.
“I’m inclined to kill two birds with one stone so to speak,” the animal rights attorney allegedly said, saying her husband was the “one leading this battle.”
Investigators said Emmi also approached a second ranch hand who had previously served as a Special Operations Scout Sniper in the military about killing people for her.
Neither of the employees were charged by authorities.
Emmi is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 16.
Colorado state records show Emmi’s law license under the name Jennifer Reba Edwards. There is no record of discipline on an Office of Attorney Regulation website maintained by the Colorado Supreme Court, but Emmi’s license status is listed as “disability inactive.”
[image via Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office]
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