GREENFIELD, MA (FRANKLIN COUNTY NOW) — A former inmate at the Franklin County Jail was sentenced Friday after he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of solicitation to commit a felony.
Hector Nieves, 44 years old, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison after accepting his guilty plea to four charges of solicitations to commit a crime, stemming from Nieves’s efforts to recruit another inmate to murder a female victim who was scheduled to testify against him in an upcoming Hampden Superior Court trial.
From the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office:
Inmate sentenced in failed murder-for-hire plot
GREENFIELD – A former inmate at the Franklin County Jail was sentenced Friday after he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of solicitation to commit a felony.
Franklin Superior Court Judge David M. Hodge sentenced Hector Nieves, 44, to 10 years in state prison after accepting his guilty plea to the following charges:
• Solicitation to Commit a Crime, to wit: Murder
• Solicitation to Commit a Crime, to wit: Intimidation of a Witness
• Solicitation to Commit a Crime, to wit: Distributing a Class A Substance (Fentanyl)
• Solicitation to Commit a Crime, to wit: Distributing a Class B Substance (Crack Cocaine)
The charges stemmed from Nieves’s efforts to recruit another inmate to murder a female victim who was scheduled to testify against him in an upcoming Hampden Superior Court trial. Nieves was held on bail on that matter and was housed at the Franklin County Jail pending trial. His efforts to kill the victim came to law enforcement’s attention in July 2024, triggering a joint investigation by the Hampshire/Franklin and Hampden State Police Detective Units, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, and the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office Anti-Crime Task Force. The investigation culminated in the Franklin County Grand Jury indicting Nieves in October 2024.
The sentence was jointly recommended by Assistant District Attorney Erin Aiello and defense attorney Daniel Solomon. Aiello commented, “This case required close collaboration among multiple agencies across different jurisdictions to protect the integrity of our court process. We depend on victims being able to testify and feeling safe when they choose to come forward.”
Nieves is already serving a 7-to-9-year state prison sentence after pleading guilty to the Hampden County case in which the female victim was scheduled to testify against him. His sentence on the Franklin County case will run concurrent with the Hampden County sentence.