A Suffolk man will spend the rest of his life in prison for hiring someone to kill witnesses in his federal drug distribution case.

Leroy Scott, 50, was sentenced for conspiracy, witness tampering, retaliation against a federal witness and use of a firearm resulting in the murder of a federal witness.

According to court documents, Scott was a high-level cocaine dealer who conspired to prevent Junior Bivins Jr. and others from testifying in court about his drug distribution activities, weapons violations and other criminal offenses.

Scott sought retaliation by hiring men to kill Bivins and two others in Hopewell and Petersburg for providing information to law enforcement officers, which resulted in the murder of Bivins on Nov. 20, 2001 in Suffolk.

Bivins was shot in the front yard of his home in the Lake Kennedy area and died at the scene.

Another man, Michael Donnell Butts, 52, of Suffolk, is serving a sentence of five life terms for providing a firearm to the shooter and driving him to and from the scene.

Scott pleaded guilty to the charges on Aug. 16.