No jail for woman in Port Orange murder-for-hire plot

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A Port Orange woman who admitted she hired a hit man to kill her husband will not be serving any time behind bars.

Channel 9's Blaine Tolison was in court Thursday as a judge told Doreen Dufresne that she'd only serve 10 years of probation for the plot from March 2011.

The court determined Dufresne's ability to understand the consequences of the murder-for-hire plot was diminished because of medication she was taking and because Dufresne committed the crime in an unsophisticated way and showed remorse for what she did.

During her sentencing, Dufresne told a judge that the medication was partially to blame for what she did. She also said she is a changed woman.

"My head is a lot clearer now that I've gotten off all those meds," she said. "My head was so foggy back then, I couldn't think straight."

In 2012, Dufresne admitted to approaching a family friend with a criminal past. That friend told Channel 9 back then that Dufresne promised him $25,000 from her husband's life insurance policy if he killed him.

Dufresne was upset when her estranged husband sold their Port Orange home in the Crane Lakes subdivision for $72,000 and didn't split the money with her.

The friend she sought to kill him ultimately turned her in to police.

"I know I must be punished for participating in the actions which may have resulted in serious injury or even death of my former husband," Dufresne told the judge Thursday.

After telling the judge that she should pay for what she did, Dufresne also said she is 52 years old and broke, while describing her problems in the past.

She asked for leniency, and although the state attorney objected to the sentence, the judge gave her 10 years of probation.

The man Dufresne tried to hire said he still believes she is dangerous and that he believes she belongs in prison.

WFTV