Ex-Doctor Sentenced In Plot To Kidnap Prosecutor In Wife's Murder

HARRISBURG, IL — A former downstate doctor caught on tape conspiring to kidnap the man who was prosecuting him for allegedly killing his wife was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday, The Southern Illinoisan reported.

Brian Burns, 56, formerly a physician in Harrisburg, was convicted last year of trying to kidnap late Saline County State's Attorney Mike Henshaw, who was prosecuting him on murder charges for allegedly killing his estranged wife, Carla, in March 2016, according to the Carbondale-based paper.

In August 2016, Burns was caught on tape offering $1,000 in order to kidnap Henshaw and torture him until he agreed to drop charges and state publicly there was not enough evidence to keep the ex-doctor behind bars.

During his May 2017 trial, the jury heard hours of audio from secretly recorded jailhouse conversations between the doctor and another prisoner. According to audio recordings made by Burns' cellmate and obtained by the Southern, Burns expressed some concern about the plan.

"You’re not wearing a mic are you? You swear to God? You’re not setting me up are you?" he said on the tapes.

Burns told his cellmate he was afraid of becoming "another [Drew] Peterson," the former Bolingbrook cop who got an extra 40 years added to his prison sentence for soliciting a hitman to kill the state's attorney who prosecuted him for killing his third wife.

Henshaw, the prosecutor Burns targeted, died last May at the age of 72 following a fall down the stairs in his house, according to the county coroner and state police, the Southern reported.

» Read more and listen to the recordings from the Southern Illinoisan

Top photo via Saline County sheriff's office