A Bismarck man serving prison time for assault and burglary has been indicted in federal court for allegedly conspiring to have two Bismarck men killed.

Robert William Rutherford, 46, was indicted on Jan. 9 by a grand jury on felony charges of conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, causing interstate travel in the commission of murder-for-hire, using mail in the commission of murder for hire, and two counts of threatening communications.

The first three charges each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum for each of the two counts of threatening communications is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to the grand jury indictment, the crimes are alleged to have occurred between March 2006 and August 2007.

Rutherford has been accused of offering an acquaintance he met while serving a prison sentence money to kill two Bismarck men. Rutherford was convicted by a jury in July 2005 of assault and burglary in an incident where he broke into the home of one of the men and assaulted him, according to Supreme Court briefs filed in the case. The other man Rutherford is accused of trying to have killed is a Bismarck attorney who represented the first man in a civil case against Rutherford for damages in the burglary and assault.

The jury found Rutherford 90 percent at fault for the damages and another man 10 percent at fault, awarding the Bismarck man $240,415.47 in damages and costs, according to Supreme Court briefs.

"The defendant is alleged to have taken several important and chilling steps toward his murderous objective," U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley said. "He had money delivered to a would-be hit man who was to carry out these murders; he mailed instructions to the man, and provided him with Bismarck maps to both men's houses."

Rutherford met an inmate identified in the indictment only as "KK" while both were serving time at the Prairie Correctional Center in Appleton, Minn. The indictment said Rutherford offered KK money and guns to kill the two men before the civil judgment against Rutherford could be executed.

The indictment alleges Rutherford used other people to deliver money and letters to KK when KK was out of the correctional center and living in Minnesota and Rutherford was being held at the James River Correctional Center in Jamestown.

"The letters included instructions and an offer to provide shotguns hidden in the attic of a home in Gregory, S.D.,"the indictment said. "KKtraveled to South Dakota, found the house and shotgun shells but did not locate the guns."

The indictment alleges Rutherford also sent KK letters which included maps of Bismarck, the location of the men's homes and the attorney's law office, description of the men's homes, information about security systems, pictures of one man's home and the name of the attorney's secretary.

Rutherford promised KK $15,000 by mail once the men were killed, the indictment said. It said he also paid $550 to KK on two occasions for travel to Bismarck.

Rutherford made his first appearance in the case on Thursday, according to court documents. U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles S. Miller ordered that Rutherford would continue to serve his sentence in the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Rutherford originally said he would represent himself, then later requested court appointed counsel. Miller appointed federal public defender Bill Schmidt to represent him.

Schmidt was out of the office Friday afternoon and unavailable for comment.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Clare Hochhalter, who is prosecuting the case, said Rutherford identified himself as "Bill Hemmingway" in court on Thursday.

Rutherford is slated to stand trial April 15 at the federal courthouse in Bismarck. The trial is scheduled to last four days.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@bismarcktribune.com.)