Federal prosecutors said a jealous murder-for-hire plot ended with an innocent commuter shot on Highway 99.

HOUSTON, Texas — Two Houston-area men were sentenced to life in federal prison after prosecutors said they planned a murder-for-hire attack that wounded the wrong man during his morning drive to work on Highway 99.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner imposed the sentences on Michael Seery, 43, of Katy, and Ricardo Obando Jr., 52, of Houston, after an eight-day federal trial and about two days of jury deliberations. The case drew attention because prosecutors said the shooting joined an old personal grievance, months of surveillance, business payments, a 3D-printed weapon and a silencer in an attack that nearly killed a man who was not the intended target.

The sentence closed the main federal case more than a year after the Feb. 4, 2025, shooting, when the victim was driving to work in the early morning. Prosecutors said Obando pulled alongside the man’s vehicle on Highway 99, also known as the Grand Parkway, and fired several shots. The victim was struck in the neck, torso and hand but survived. Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck announced the life sentences, and earlier in the case U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei said the ambush happened “all because of one man’s jealousy and faulty information.” Jurors also saw footage from the victim’s in-car camera system, which captured the gunfire and the 911 call that followed.

At trial, prosecutors said Seery hired Obando to kill a man he believed had an affair with Seery’s wife while Seery was in prison. But the intended target had moved out of the residence where Seery believed he lived, leaving another man in the path of the plot. The intended target testified, as did Seery’s wife. Jurors heard that the affair at the center of Seery’s anger had happened about 12 years earlier. Prosecutors said testimony showed Seery was still angry in January 2025, only weeks before the shooting. The victim’s identity has not been publicly released in the main federal statements, and officials have not said he had any connection to the old dispute.

The government’s case rested on more than the shooting itself. Prosecutors said cell phone evidence showed Obando had conducted extensive surveillance before the attack and had made an earlier failed attempt on the victim. Investigators also presented evidence tied to the weapon. Jurors saw the 3D printer that prosecutors said Seery used to manufacture the firearm and silencer believed to have been used by Obando. Photos of firearm parts and multiple guns found at Seery’s home and storage unit were also shown in court. Prosecutors said Seery paid Obando through his business to hide the true reason for the money, turning business records into part of the alleged trail behind the plot.

The jury convicted Seery and Obando on multiple federal counts tied to murder for hire and weapons. Both men were found guilty of conspiracy to use interstate facilities to commit murder for hire causing bodily injury, aiding and abetting the use of interstate facilities to commit murder for hire causing bodily injury, aiding and abetting discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and aiding and abetting the use of a firearm silencer during and in relation to a crime of violence. Seery was also convicted of transferring a firearm to be used in a felony and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Obando was convicted of receiving a firearm to be used in a felony.

The defenses disputed key parts of the government’s account. Obando’s defense challenged the cell phone evidence, while Seery denied involvement in the conspiracy. The defense also argued that prosecutors had not proved enough about the real intended target or about any relationship among the defendants, the actual victim and the man Seery allegedly wanted dead. The jury rejected those arguments against Seery and Obando. A third defendant, Matthew Rosas, 25, was acquitted. Prosecutors had alleged Rosas drove the vehicle when the shooting occurred, but jurors did not return a conviction against him.

The case moved from a highway shooting to a federal murder-for-hire prosecution over several months. In July 2025, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Seery, Obando and Rosas in the plot. At that stage, prosecutors said the men had planned for months and carried out the shooting in the early morning of Feb. 4. Local coverage at the time described an investigation that included an unregistered vehicle, surveillance of the victim’s routine and searches at Seery’s Katy home, business and storage unit. Federal authorities said the FBI, Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety and Katy Police Department worked on the investigation with help from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

The highway setting added to the stakes at trial. Officials said the gunfire did not only endanger the wounded driver, but also placed other morning commuters at risk on a busy Houston-area route. FBI Houston Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Hudson said earlier that the plot turned a Houston highway into an “incredibly dangerous situation for morning commuters.” After sentencing, Hudson described the investigation as an example of local, state and federal agencies sharing information to uncover what officials said first appeared to be a road rage incident but later became a federal murder-for-hire case. The victim survived, but the wounds described in court showed how close the plot came to becoming a homicide.

Seery and Obando have remained in custody and are expected to be transferred to Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities. The case now stands as a life-sentence federal prosecution tied to an attack on the wrong man, with the next public milestone likely to come through prison designation or any post-trial motions and appeals.

Author note: Last updated May 22, 2026.