Plastic Surgeon’s Murder For Hire Trial Set To Begin

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — The trial of an Amarillo plastic surgeon accused in a murder-for-hire plot to kill a Lubbock pathologist who was dating his former girlfriend is set to begin.  

Prosecutors and attorneys for 50-year-old Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon, who's been jailed since his arrest, were scheduled to give opening statements in the capital murder trial Monday in Lubbock.

Prosecutors say Dixon offered another man three silver bars worth $9,000 to kill Dr. Joseph Sonnier III in July 2012. The 57-year-old chief pathologist of a Lubbock hospital was dating Dixon's ex-girlfriend when he died.

The hit man is serving life in prison without parole as part of a plea deal. Prosecutors say he used a gun Dixon had given him.

Prosecutors recently decided to not seek the death penalty for Dixon.