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VISTA, Calif. — A adult female and her gun instructor were sentenced to life prison terms Wednesday for carrying out a botched plot to shoot and kill the woman'southward estranged husband, who survived the attack on a dark dirt road in Carlsbad.

Diana Lovejoy makes a tearful statement before her sentencing.

Diana Lovejoy, now the ex-wife of victim Greg Mulvihill, was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison house. Weldon McDavid, 50, was sentenced to fifty years to life. Both continued during the sentencing hearing to maintain their innocence.

"I still take faith that the truth will come out," the 45-year-erstwhile Lovejoy said. "I'm not capable of doing these things."

McDavid added, "I did non intend to shoot Mr. Mulvihill. There was no intent to impale."

Both were convicted Nov. 13 of conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder.

Prosecutor Jodi Breton told jurors that Mulvihill got a phone call just before 11 p.m. Sept. 1, 2016, from a person claiming to exist a private investigator, who supposedly had information on his estranged wife.

The caller instructed Mulvihill to go to a clay road where he could pick up a package containing materials pertaining to Lovejoy, according to the prosecutor. Mulvihill and a co-worker, Jason Kovach, collection to the area and used a flashlight to look for a package taped to a ability pole.

Kovach testified that they saw some rustling in the bushes, and so noticed what looked like a person lying in a prone position with a rifle pointed at them. The witness said shots rang out, and he and a wounded Mulvihill took off running.

Breton said Mulvihill, 45, was trying to reclaim his life afterward Lovejoy had claimed that he had molested their young son and sexually abused her. The couple had been separated since July 2014 and were in the final stages of completing their divorce.

Carlsbad police determined that the phone used to phone call Mulvihill was purchased by Lovejoy, and feces plant in the bushes at the scene of the shooting were traced to McDavid, the prosecutor said.

Investigators plant a multitude of guns and a silencer in McDavid's garage, and a "smash bag" containing vii spent beat casings, Breton told the jury.

McDavid'south attorney, Ricky Crawford, said his client was a trained marksman and former Marine who fired his rifle merely after he heard someone yell "I have a gun!" If McDavid wanted to impale someone he would have, Crawford told the jury.

McDavid echoed that sentiment during Midweek'south sentencing hearing, saying, "If I intended to kill Mr. Mulvihill, he would take been dead. … My only promise is that this volition be rectified on entreatment."

Brad Patton, Lovejoy's attorney, said his client had taken out a temporary restraining club against Mulvihill because, she claimed, he was abusing her and their son.

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