Court
According to federal prosecutors, Matthew Seery hired Ricardo Obando Jr. to kill a man whom he believed had been having an affair with his wife. They mistakenly targeted another man, who was shot multiple times but survived.
Lucio Vasquez/Houston Public Media
The Bob Casey United States Courthouse is located on Rusk Street in downtown Houston.
Two Houston-area men were sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for their roles in a failed murder-for-hire plot in 2025, according to court documents.
Michael Seery, 43, and Ricardo Obando Jr., 52, were sentenced to life in prison on multiple charges. The men’s sentencing comes after a jury earlier this month found them guilty of several, but not all of the charges related to the murder-for-hire plot, court documents show.
Seery and Obando were charged in July 2025 for plotting to kill another man while he was driving to work in Harris County on the morning of Feb. 4, 2025. The men ultimately carried out the attack, and the victim, who is referred to only by his initials in court documents, was shot multiple times and sustained several injuries but survived.
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According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, Seery had hired Obando to kill a man whom he believed had been having an affair with his wife. According to court documents, Seery had targeted the wrong person because the intended target had moved out of the residence where he was believed to have been living.
During the jury trial, both the victim and Seery’s wife testified that the affair had occurred over a decade earlier, while Seery was in prison.
RELATED: Three Houston-area men charged in alleged murder-for-hire plot
In a statement on social media, Jason Hudson, the Special Agent in Charge of the Houston FBI office, said the sentencing was a result of a collaborative investigation by multiple agencies.
“This was a very unique case and a great example of how local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies worked together to solve what was originally thought to be a road rage incident but turned out to be a highly planned assassination attempt on the wrong person,” Hudson said.
A third man, Matthew Rosas, 25, was also charged for his role in the murder-for-hire plot. Rosas was accused of being the driver of the vehicle when the shooting occurred.
According to court documents, Rosas was found guilty of one of the five counts against him — aiding and abetting the discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence — and has not yet been sentenced.
The FBI, Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety and the Katy Police Department were all involved in the investigation.
