MELBOURNE, Fla.,None — A Brevard County man and his new wife hired a hit man to kill his ex-wife in 2009, and Wednesday the couple accepted a plea that could land them both in prison.
Their hit man, however, turned out to be an undercover deputy sheriff's agent who was wearing a hidden microphone. They recorded three telephone conversations and the meeting where the couple handed over all the cash to put a bullet in the ex-wife's head.
Stuart Brush, 60, had a hard time speaking while pleading guilty to a charge along with his new wife Shelley Ann Whitney Brush, which will cut their potential prison sentences in half.
Stuart Brush was a lot more talkative last January when he was sitting in the parking lot of the Melbourne Square Mall telling an undercover agent he wanted to hire a hit man to hurt his ex.
"Like my wife said, she hurt us bad, credit wise and financially for the last two years and somehow I would like to go ahead and destroy her," Stuart Brush said in the tape recording.
Authorities say the pair dreamed up the plan after a bitter divorce. The couple talked to a co-worker about hiring someone, but that co-worker secretly went to sheriff's deputies.
An undercover agent posing as a hit man offered his services.
"My husband and I have talked about it. We are very serious. We just want to know how much it's going to cost and what we need to sell to get it done," Shelley Ann Whitney Brush said in the recordings.
When they met at the mall, the couple gave the agent about $300 cash and promised $5,000 five from a 1977 Corvette they planned to sell.
The agent posing as the hit man made it clear he was going to kill Stuart's ex-wife Marsha Brush.
"We won't have these problems anymore," Shelley Ann said.
"You won't even know when it's done," the undercover agent said.
"Alright," Stuart Brush replied.
Stuart's ex-wife Marsha Brush was never harmed, but may get to face the couple when they are sentenced March 12.
The couple faced 30 years in prison each, but they both pleaded guilty to lesser counts of solicitation to commit burglary and battery, which has a maximum penalty of 15 years.
Prosecutors agreed to lower the charges because there was no guarantee a jury would convict the couple of solicitation of murder.