New London — Nitasia Sutton, who spent nine months in jail while her case was pending in a 2019 murder-for-hire plot in New London, was sentenced on Wednesday and walked free from the courtroom.

Sutton appeared in Superior Court and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, fully suspended after the nine months she has already served — meaning she won't return to jail. The 22-year-old wiped tears from her eyes as New London Superior Court Judge Hillary B. Strackbein delivered her sentence, which includes five years of probation.

Sutton was arraigned on Sept. 20, 2020, on charges of attempted murder stemming from an incident in New London in November 2019 and was ordered held on a $1 million bond. She later pleaded guilty to reduced charges of first-degree conspiracy to commit assault. She was released from the Department of Correction in June on a written promise to appear in court, according to court officials.

On Nov. 24, 2019, police were dispatched to a home at 168 Third Ave. for reports of a gunshot. A bullet had pierced a second-floor window of the apartments and traveled into a bedroom where three young girls were sleeping.

Police alleged in an arrest warrant affidavit that Shaquan Lee-Seales, a New London man, orchestrated the attempted murder from prison, where he is serving a 15-year sentence for shooting and killing bystander Gilberto Olivencia during a drug dispute in 2015.

Lee-Seales, 27, pleaded guilty in 2018 to first-degree manslaughter with a firearm and third-degree robbery and is serving his sentence at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield. While there, he allegedly ordered three men to shoot and kill his son's mother, Nicole Rivera-Ramos, and her boyfriend, Demetrius Watley, in a series of phone calls from prison.

Some of those calls, according to the warrant, were made to Sutton.

Lee-Seales allegedly ordered the shooting because he was upset that Rivera-Ramos was letting Watley tell Lee-Seales' son he has two fathers, and was not taking the child to visit Lee-Seales more often.

Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney Stephen M. Carney, who recommended the 10-year sentence for Sutton, said he hopes the time Sutton has spent in prison and the 10 years she is at risk of serving if she violates the conditions of her probation "have gotten her attention and that she understands how serious this is." 

Sutton's attorney, Michael Brown, said the shock of being incarcerated has brought more focus to her life. He said a lack of self-worth led her to become involved with the others who orchestrated the crime, but she hopes to turn her life around.

"She's young, she's smart, she's caring, and she has a lot of life ahead of her and a lot to offer the world," he said, adding that his client had been working and attending school since being released from jail.

Judge Strackbein reminded Sutton that life is a series of choices. "Your choices need to be better, and it sounds like they are better."

The judge ordered that Sutton have no contact with the victims of the crime, the co-defendants in the case or their family members and that she not go near the Londonberry Gardens apartment complex.

Lee-Seales last month rejected an offer from the state to serve an additional 18 years in prison for his alleged crimes. Instead, he'll wait at least a year to face a jury.

Kion Wilbur, who faces charges in the same case and was arraigned with Sutton, appeared in court on Monday and pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted assault, according to court officials. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 29.

t.hartz@theday.com