Hartford -- Before he was sentenced this morning to 70 years in prison, Richard Shenkman told Hartford Superior Court Judge Julia Dewey that he had hired an assassin to kill his ex-wife, Nancy Tyler, and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

"No one in a black robe will stop me from having Nancy Tyler killed," he said.

Shenkman told Dewey that he had previously helped a man commit a murder in the state and saved evidence from that crime. He said he was now using that evidence to blackmail the man into killing Tyler and that the plot was going forward. He said that if the man was successful in killing Tyler by a specified deadline the man would receive the evidence from the first murder as well as a large sum of money.

"There is nothing the system can do to prevent Nancy Tyler's murder," Shenkman told Dewey. Shenkman said he also had a backup plan in case Tyler moved out of state or tried to change her identity and the assassin could not find her. In that case the assassin had three alternative targets who he identified as three of Tyler's relatives.

He told Dewey that Tyler was to blame for divorcing him and starting "the war of the Tylers."

Before sentencing, Dewey told Shenkman that he could never be rehabilitated and that he had engaged in a "premeditated and calculated effort" to harass and intimidate Tyler. She called Shenkman's conduct "outrageous" and said, "There is no evidence you've ever given back to society in any way. It's always been about you."

Defense attorney Hugh Keefe told Dewey that Shenkman's comments were further proof that he is seriously mentally ill and "had gone off the reservation."

Keefe admitted that in all his years as an attorney he had never seen a sentencing like this one. He said Dewey had made serious errors at Shenkman's trial and he would be appealing Shenkman's conviction.

Earlier, Dewey rejected a motion by Keefe to delay Shenkman's sentencing on the basis of mental incompetence, saying there was no evidence he was incompetent to assist on his own behalf.

Keefe had argued that Shenkman's mental condition had deteriorated since his October trial, when he was found guilty of holding Tyler hostage for 13 hours and then setting fire to their South Windsor home in July 2009.

Tyler asked the court for the maximum sentence but said she and her family will never be safe because Shenkman will continue his war against them from prison.

Shenkman and Tyler once ran a branch office of their public relations firm, Prime Media, in New London and ran public events, including the New London celebration of OpSail 2000. They also represented the Eastern Pequot Indians during the tribe's federal recognition efforts.

At the October trial, a jury rejected Shenkman's defense that he was insane at the time and was not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.

Shenkman, who faces 74 years in prison, was found guilty of kidnaping, first-degree arson, violation of a protective order, carrying a pistol without a permit, two counts of second-degree threatening, first-degree threatening, third-degree assault, interfering with a police officer and attempted assault of a police officer.

It was on July 7, 2009, that Shenkman kidnapped Tyler, his ex-wife, at gunpoint in downtown Hartford and held her hostage in the South Windsor home they once shared. It would be 13 long, tense hours before Tyler would manage to escape. When she did, Shenkman set the house on fire, came outside and was arrested.

Shenkman still faces charges that in 2007 he burned down his and Tyler's Niantic cottage during their contentious divorce. New London State's Attorney Michael Regan said Tuesday the case in on the trial list but he could not predict when it will go forward.

During his closing arguments at the October trial, Keefe told the jury that Shenkman snapped on July 7, 2009, after a variety of stresses in his life and having been treated for mental illnesses for years.

The incident occurred the day he was supposed to appear before a judge handling his and Tyler's divorce. On that day, he was either to pay Tyler for her share of the house or vacate the premises so it could be sold.

But experts for the prosecution argued that Shenkman was not legally insane at the time of the 2009 events. Senior Assistant State's Attorney Vicki Melchiorre said Shenkman was playing the mental illness card, as he had during other times in his life, to avoid going to prison.