CIRCLEVILLE – A jury decided on Wednesday that Tara Lambert, a 33-year-old former model, had planned and plotted to kill the mother of her stepchildren and went so far as to give an undercover deputy who she thought was a hitman instructions on what to do as well as a photo and a down payment.
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After two days of testimony in Pickaway County Common Pleas Court, the jury of eight men and four women deliberated less than an hour before finding Lambert guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder by targeting Kellie Cooke.
Jurors acquitted her, however, on a second conspiracy charge, that one filed because Lambert told the purported hitman — on a secretly recorded video — to also kill Shawn Cooke if he happened to be home when the first deed was done.
Lambert, who had been out of jail while awaiting trial, showed no reaction to the verdict except to, as the court bailiff moved her smartwatch down her arm to make way for the handcuffs, express concern over what would happen to her purse. She then was taken to jail.