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May 21, 2008 11:30 am US/Central
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Wife, Husband Face Charge In Hatchet Attack
ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) ―
A woman charged with assault for hitting her brother-in-law with a hatchet is now charged, along with her husband, with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the attack.
Authorities initially said Brenda Kay Shorter, 35, hit her brother-in-law on April 24 with the blunt end of a hatchet in a dispute over how he treated his cows. But Olmsted County investigators later found that Shorter's husband, William James Shorter, had obtained a $300,000 life insurance policy on his brother's life without the brother's knowledge or consent. William Shorter, 36, was the sole beneficiary of the policy.
According to the criminal complaint, William Shorter told investigators he took out the policy in March and forged his brother's signature on it. He told them he did it because his brother is "accident prone and reckless."
William Shorter allegedly told investigators that he and his wife are in debt and a few months behind in loan payments on Shorter Farms, a dairy business in Dover. The complaint said Brenda and William Shorter, the attack victim and their parents all co-signed the loan. The Shorters have until March 2009 to make a full payment of about $375,000 to keep the farm, the complaint said.
Brenda Shorter's attorney, Gary Gittus, said the case against her is circumstantial and "based on loose innuendoes. This is crime novel stuff, and they're going to have a big probable cause problem," Gittus said.
William Shorter is being represented by an Olmsted County public defender, but that office wouldn't reveal who specifically is representing him. The phone number listed for William and Brenda Shorter in Dover was out of service Wednesday.
The Shorters have not yet entered pleas in the case. Their next court appearance is scheduled for June 2.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)