Edmond Man Receives Award For Alerting Police Of Murder For Hire Plot

Edmond Police Chief Bob Ricks awarded Daniel Becannen a Citizenship award Friday morning for his role in helping arrest a man who wanted his wife's lover killed.

Becannen went to Edmond Police in July, 2011 after his neighbor, James J. Blair, asked him to help him kill his wife's boyfriend and offered him $5000 to do it. He worked with Edmond police detectives and got Blair to reveal his intent to have his wife's lover killed, while he wore a wire.

"My heart was pounding a mile a minute," said Becannen during an interview after receiving the award. "I knew I had to tell police because if I wouldn't agree to do it, he'd find someone else to do it and might have me killed since I knew about it."

Edmond Police arrested Blair at his home on July 14. He pled guilty to a solicitation of murder charge and was sentenced to 20 years.

7/15/2011 Related Story: Edmond Man Accused Of Trying To Hire Hitman To Kill Wife's Boyfriend