Hitman-hire suspect offers plea

Journal Staff WriterWilliam Weismann, 66, could spend up to four years in state prison under a conditional plea he entered on murder-for-hire charges for seeking the death of a Lake of the Pines neighbor with whom he feuded.The District Attorney?s Office for Nevada County has not joined the conditional plea, prosecutor Ronald Wolfson said Friday.?We can argue for more time,? Assistant District Attorney Wolfson said.Weismann, who pleaded no contest to solicitation for murder, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 12.?It?s up to the judge to either accept it or reject it,? Assistant District Attorney Wolfson said of the Nov. 14 conditional plea.Weismann was arrested after law enforcement officials said he met in April with an officer posing as a hitman. The defendant allegedly sought the murder of Tom Wess, Jr., his neighbor on Lakeshore North in the gated community.The two were in a series of disputes, including a dock that Weismann said was built on his property.In documents filed in connection with the criminal case, Weismann?s attorney recounted incidents leading up to the solicitation for murder charge.?The Weismann Dream Home Becomes Hell on Earth,? an account is titled, stating that the defendant looked forward to serene afternoons on the lake edge when buying his Lake of Pines Home in 2000 after retiring.But his neighbor Wess had a high-pitched leaf blower running on two consecutive weekends when the Weismanns were entertaining guests, the attorney stated.Wess would return ?to his beloved blower with a vengeance, walking back and forth in the narrow space? next to Weismann?s home a few feet from the kitchen window, according to the court documents. Wess also painted a red line between the two properties, installed video cameras in his house aimed at his neighbor and used a chainsaw to cut oleanders planted on Weismann?s property between the houses, the documents stated. On a Memorial Day holiday when Weismann had guests, Wess fumigated in the backyard, driving his neighbor and guests inside, according to the documents.Wess could not be reached for comment.James Roberts, Weismann?s attorney, also could not be reached for comment on the case.Weismann, who was born in Minnesota, was raised in Compton, Calif. He retired three years ago to Lake of the Pines. He worked for 3M Co. as Western Regional Manager and was a sales and marketing manager at Ampex Corporation.He later started a sales and marketing business for electronic parts distribution.