MUSKEGON, Mich. (April 28, 2014) — She wanted her husband dead, and the undercover videos show exactly how she wanted it done.
Diane Hart was sentenced in court Monday to a minimum of six years in prison after pleading no contest to the murder-for-hire.
She told the judge her sister was the mastermind and that she wished she had never been pulled into it. Vicki Brill is scheduled to be sentenced in May.
Police were tipped off to Diane Hart and Vicki Brill’s plot to have Hart’s husband, Gene, killed. The tip came from the intended victim. An undercover officer set up a meeting and caught it all on video.
In the video, the sisters actually ask the undercover officer if he’s an “undercover cop” before getting into his van. Vicki laughs in the backseat when the undercover officer asks if they were sure they wanted to go through with killing Gene.
The sister says they want Gene killed in the garage.
“Because my grandson’s in the house,” Diane said.
Muskegon County Prosecutor DJ Hilson says the whole plot is sickening. He just finished prosecuting another murder-for-hire case: Julia Merfeld’s callous giggles made national headlines when she too tried to hire someone to kill her husband.
“It was shocking to me that I received a phone call from the Michigan State Police saying, “Hey listen, we’re working on another one,’” Hilson said.
The sisters provided a picture of Gene and brought rings to the meeting as a deposit for the $5,000 job.
When the undercover officer asked Diane if she wanted Gene shot in the head or chest, she replies, “Whatever’s easiest.”
Diane had recently filed for divorce, though, Hilson says, a small insurance payout seemed to be the motive for the murder.
Though the sisters were convinced they were plotting with a killer, a few minutes later they were in police custody.
Hilson says they were pulled over by state police about five minutes later for questioning.
