Man Charged in Murder-for-Hire Plot Stays in Jail

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- Federal prosecutors say a northern Idaho attorney accused of hiring a hit man to try to kill his wife and mother-in-law has attempted to intimidate potential witnesses in the case.

A federal magistrate ordered Edgar J. Steele detained during a court hearing Tuesday, after prosecutors played recorded phone conversations Steele had with his wife and son two days after his June 11 arrest.

During the conversations, Steele tells his wife that government officials have taped recordings that have been doctored to sound as if he's hiring a hit man to kill her.

Steele pleads with his wife to deny the voice on the recordings belongs to him and warns that if she doesn't, she'll have to explain to their children why her testimony helped put him in prison.