Dec 12 (Reuters) - A Monmouth County man was sentenced on Friday to life in prison without parole for conspiring to murder New Jersey's chief federal judge in exchange for $100,000.

Derrick Menter, 39, was convicted in July for the plot against U.S. District Judge Garrett Brown Jr., but he was acquitted of attempted murder of the judge.

The plan was hatched while Menter was being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, according to prosecutors. Menter was incarcerated there for failing to register as a sex offender, said his defense lawyer, Michael Riley.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Khan told jurors at the trial that Menter -- whose nickname was "Murder" -- was a member of the "Sex, Money, Murder" set of the Bloods street gang, and that he was out for money and revenge against Brown, who had sentenced Bloods in the past, according to a transcript of the opening arguments.

While at the jail, another Blood, Ishmael "Ish" Armah, introduced Menter to Robert Sacks, a "white-collar" criminal with "money to burn," Khan said at trial. Sacks was slated to be sentenced by Brown for a multimillion-dollar telemarketing scam, according to court papers. Menter was scheduled to be released Feb. 18, six days before Sacks' sentencing.

But before the plan could be carried out, Sacks blew the whistle. At trial, he testified that Armah told him, "We're going to take care of your problem with Judge Brown." He also claimed that Armah came to him and said he and Menter wanted $100,000 to murder the judge.

The case was tried in Camden federal court, but was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania because the target of the crime was a New Jersey federal judge. Chief Judge Harvey Bartle III, also of the Eastern District, presided over the trial for the same reason.

'DEVELOPMENTALLY CHALLENGED FRAUDSTER'

Khan described Sacks as a "developmentally challenged fraudster," but said he was no gangster. By alerting authorities to the plot, Khan said, Sacks hoped to be rewarded with a lighter sentence.

The government's evidence included audio recordings of the conversations, according to court papers.

Riley told the jury that Sacks was anything but developmentally disabled. Sacks managed to run a huge telemarketing scam, and worried about facing life in federal prison, Riley said, according to the transcript.

It was clear that Sacks had a lot of money, Riley added, and Menter and the other inmates had tried to con him by offering to help him with his predicament.

Riley played down the government's audio recordings capturing Menter's talk of killing the judge, and contended that Menter was simply trying to up the ante in attempt to increase the amount of money he could get out of Sacks. "Sounds terrible," Riley said. "But, if it's part of a plan to defraud the fraudster ... it all makes sense."

At the sentencing hearing last Friday in Camden, Menter continued to declare his innocence, Riley said during a phone interview with Reuters.

"It's one of those situations that because of the way the sentencing guidelines are, the judge had very little discretion given the circumstances," Riley said.

The government insisted on a life sentence, according to its sentencing memorandum.

"While in prison awaiting disposition of his own criminal case, the defendant named $100,000 as his reward for a chilling execution designed to both retaliate against the victim for carrying out his duties as a judge and prevent him from doing so in the future," the memo said.

The U.S. Attorney's office declined to comment on the sentence.

Armah pleaded guilty in October to a charge related to the plot and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to court papers.

The case is United States v. Derrick Menter, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, No. 11-0159.

For Menter: Michael Riley of the Law Offices of Riley & Riley.

For the government: Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Khan and Neuman Leverett III.

(Reporting by Jennifer Golson)

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