A killer-for-hire is now a convicted liar-for-hire.

Confessed hit man Vincent Smothers, who is serving up to 100 years in prison for a string of contract murders, had more time added to his incarceration following recent convictions for lying to a court and possessing a contraband cellphone, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office.

In 2018, Smothers provided an affidavit to the Macomb County Circuit Court in which he lied about two shooting victims to help bolster another inmate’s claim that he’d shot the men in self-defense, Nessel said in a press release. The contraband cellphone, discovered in Smothers’ cell in May, uncovered the scheme, in which Smothers was paid to lie, Nessel said.

More: Nessel: Hit man Smothers, another inmate conspired on false testimony in 2007 murder

Smothers, 45, was sentenced Thursday in Muskegon County Circuit Court to 14 months to 58 months in prison for possessing a contraband cell phone. Smothers, an inmate in Freeland’s Saginaw Correctional Facility, was sentenced in Macomb County Circuit Court last month to one to 40 years for providing a false affidavit to a court, an offense that carries up to life in prison.

Smothers will serve the sentences consecutively — after his 50-year to 100-year second-degree murder sentence is completed — the Attorney General’s Office said. The recent sentences push Smothers’ earliest release date up two years to April 18, 2061.

“Providing false evidence undermines the hard work of the many police, prosecutors, judges, and jurors who work tirelessly to hold dangerous people accountable and make our communities safer,” Nessel said in a statement. “This conviction and sentence make clear that those who attempt to obstruct justice will face consequences, and my office will continue to defend the integrity of our criminal justice system with the full weight of the law.”

In 2010, Smothers was sentenced to 50 to 100 years in prison after pleading guilty to eight counts of second-degree murder. Smothers said he was paid by Detroit drug dealers to kill their rivals, although he also was contracted to kill Rose Cobb, the wife of Detroit Police Sgt. David Cobb, whom he fatally shot on Dec. 26, 2007, while she sat in her minivan in a CVS drugstore parking lot on East Jefferson.

In 2008, after being charged in connection with his wife’s killing, David Cobb killed himself.

A prison cellphone discovery kicks off Nessel’s investigation

In May, officials at the Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility in Muskegon County found a contraband cell phone in Smothers’ cell. The discovery kicked off the Attorney General’s investigation, Nessel said.

When authorities inspected the phone, they found communications between Smothers and Shannon Anderson, an inmate in another prison serving up to 40 years following his 2010 second-degree murder conviction. The text messages laid out a scheme in which Smothers was to be paid to lie about the shooting victims to make the killings appear to have been in self-defense, according to Nessel.

Smothers signed the affidavit in 2018, providing false details about the shooting, according to the attorney general. In February 2020, Anderson’s lawyer filed a motion requesting a new hearing based on new evidence — Smothers’ affidavit, Nessel said.

Anderson also was charged with obstruction of justice in Clinton Township’s 41-B District Court. An April 2 preliminary examination is scheduled before Chief Judge Sebastian Lucido. Shannon’s attorney, Mariell Lehman, did not respond Friday to a phone call requesting comment.

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns are hoping to stop a four-game losing skid against the Milwaukee Bucks tonight, and they’ll have to do so short-handed.

Phoenix is down all of Royce O’Neale, Grayson Allen, Haywood Highsmith, Mark Williams and Dillon Brooks tonight due to injury. While the Bucks are also without Giannis Antetekounmpo, the Suns certainly aren’t near a full slate of healthy players.

In order to get back in the win column, Suns head coach Jordan Ott is banking on this starting five:

Suns Reveal Starters vs Bucks

• Devin Booker
• Jalen Green
• Collin Gillespie
• Jordan Goodwin
• Oso Ighodaro

Opening tip is slated for 7:00 PM AZ time.

With so many injuries, Ott says plenty of young guys can step up.

“It’s an opportunity for the guys that’ve been working, it was similar on the end of that road trip, same thing. We trust in their development. We see them work every day. Teammates see them work every day. So great opportunity for those guys and coming off the road trip, it’s good to be home,” Ott said. Names such as Rasheer Fleming and Khaman Maluach have gotten more run due to injuries as of late.

“It’s good to be home, playing, again, meaningful games here in March. I do think we’re playing better. So I think there’s a lot of positives we can take from that road trip. And these guys have some confidence, even the guys that got some minutes there to tail end of the road trip. They were in those big games, playing in big moments into the fourth quarter. So excited for all that to come together tonight and to be home.”

The Suns lost their prior four games all by eight points or less.

“You don’t want to lose four games straight. I think if you go into that road trip knowing it’s a tough road trip in March, it’s a six-game trip,” Ott said.

“The back-to-back from Boston to Minnesota is as bad as you’re going to get in the league, regardless of the quality of opponents, Boston was playing well. Minnesota was desperate, and then to play great with them. So I’m not going to say that we’re that far off. We looked at the schedule in September and saw that four game stretch.

“I think you would say it was a tough stretch. I think it’s we’ll take it as a positive that we were there in the fourth quarter in multiple games, and we got to find a way to close it out. I think it’s on both sides of it. It’s offensively and defensively in the fourth quarter. We got to be better. But there’s a tremendous growth on that road trip, even though it was 2-4 and I think where we’re heading is exciting — these last 12 games playing some of the best basketball we have all year, but there’s no doubt that fourth quarter got to be better.”

Less than a week after a blizzard and subzero temperatures, the mercury officially soared to 77 degrees at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Saturday, breaking a record set 88 years ago in the Twin Cities.

On March 21, 1938, the recorded high was 76 degrees, according to the National Weather Service Twin Cities office.

“We went from a blizzard and lows below zero to near record warmth in just 6 days,” a KSTP meteorologist posted on X. “Now THAT is March Madness!”

The weather service said cooler temperatures are expected for the rest of the week and that other than a small chance the Twin Cities will see rain tonight, the rest of the week remains “quiet” weather-wise.

The area is looking at a possible high of 45 degrees on Sunday, a potential high of 55 on Monday, and a possible 60 degrees on Tuesday, the weather service said. Those days will most likely have partly cloudy skies, as well.