New London Judge Susan B. Handy told Antonio "Wilson" Peña he is lucky somebody got "cold feet" and went to police about a murder-for-hire plot two years ago as she sentenced him to eight years in prison for arranging the murder of a rival.

Had the plot been carried out, the judge told Peña, 36, of New London, he would likely be going to prison for the rest of his life. Handy said it was a strange case.

"It's like a bad movie, is what it is," the judge said. "The last time I checked, we were living in a civilized society."

Peña had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder as his case was nearing trial. He pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine, indicating he did not agree with the state's allegations but did not want to risk conviction at trial and the possibility of a lengthier prison sentence.

According to New London police, Peña was upset that Oscar "Tato" Valentin had taken his drug-dealing business. Police said that in August 2011, he arranged to pay $5,000 to Gerardo Carrillo, 26, of 64 Fawn Hill Drive, Westbrook, and $10,000 to Elmer A. Melendez, 28, of 208 Crystal Ave., New London. Tipped off by an informant, police pulled over the informant, Carrillo and Melendez after the informant and Carrillo picked up Melendez at his apartment. Both men admitted to taking part in the plot.

Prosecutor Christa L. Baker said she agreed to resolve the case with the eight-year sentence, followed by six years of special parole, because the intended target, Valentin, was arrested in federal drug distribution charges in April and remains incarcerated.

Peña, who had just one previous conviction for possession of narcotics, was in a rehabilitation program for a lifelong addiction to cocaine and alcohol when the plot was unraveled, according to his attorney, William Gerace. Peña was indigent at the time, Gerace said, so he finds it odd that he would have agreed to pay out $15,000. Gerace said Peña's father, a minister in Puerto Rico, told his son that pleading guilty was "the better way to go," and that Peña agreed.

Melendez, 30, also pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in September to three years in prison. Carrillo's case is pending and he is due back in court on Thursday.