Prison time for man convicted of seeking murder of wife’s doctor

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – A 63-year-old Rapid City man who was convicted of seeking help to murder his late wife’s doctor has been sentenced to prison.

William Thoman was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison, with nearly 10 years suspended and credit for time served.

The Rapid City Journal reports that Thoman was convicted last month of criminal solicitation for asking an acquaintance to aid and abet the murder of Dr. Mustafa Sahin in September 2018. A jury found Thoman guilty of asking Ken Jones to help him obtain a gun to commit the murder, but not of soliciting a hit man to kill the doctor.

Thoman’s attorney argued his client was grieving and angry, but never planned to hurt Sahin.

Sahin is a former oncologist at Regional Health in Rapid City.

AP-WF-09-24-19 1500GMT