A Clay County judge sentenced Dongwook Ko Wednesday to 24 years in Clay County jail for plotting to kill a number of people connected to his 2019 conviction for attacking a girl at an Indiana University summer music camp.
A jury found Ko guilty for conspiracy to commit murder earlier this month.
Ko, a South Korean resident, pleaded guilty to a charge related to attacking a girl two years ago at a Jacobs School of Music strings camp. He was sentenced to eight years of home detention in that case, but U.S. immigration agents ordered him jailed rather than deporting him.
Ko provided a hit list and a map to his cellmate at the Clay County Detention Center in Brazil, Indiana. He believed his cellmate was a gang member who would arrange the torture and killings of 14 people connected to his conviction in the 2019 attack on the girl, court records state.
Individuals on a list the inmate provided to police are the victim's parents, defense witnesses, two prosecutors and a journalist who covered the case.
Ko’s sentence will be carried out entirely in prison, according to prosecuting attorney Zachary Clapp.
Ko violated his plea agreement requiring he not commit any more crime, turning the eight years on house arrest and two years on probation into jail time. The 10 years will be consecutive to the 24-year sentence.
CORRECTION: Ko was not an IU graduate student. This has been redacted.
Cathy Knapp contributed to this story.
