Not the Ideal Partnership

HALEYVILLE, Ala. (CN) - A woman asked a judge to remove her husband as co-director of their flower shop because he hired a hitman to kill her and her mother. Then the husband allegedly hired a second hitman to kill his wife, his mother-in-law and the first hitman.

Reba Carol Butler sued her husband Larry Lee Butler, in Marion County Court.

The flower business, Mays Wholesale Flowers, is a nominal defendant. Reba Butler started the business with her parents, James and Ruby Mays, in 1978.

Reba and Larry Butler had been married just 1 month short of 25 years when "she was assaulted by an assailant at the home of Ruby Mays," on May 23 this year, according to the complaint.

The hitman hit Reba with a table leg as she slept at her mother's house, and choked her, according to her divorce petition. Her mother woke up and scared the man away. Reba was hospitalized with serious injuries.

According to a report in the Decatur Times-Daily, Larry Butler then "reportedly hired another man to kill his wife, mother-in-law and the first hit man."

The newspaper reported that Marion County District Attorney Jack Bostick "said Butler hired two people on different occasions to execute the murder-for-hire scheme."

Larry Butler was arrested at the flower shop on June 30, and "has been charged with five counts of conspiracy to commit murder, five counts of solicitation to commit murder and two counts of attempted murder," according to his wife's complaint. He is in jail with a $1.5 million cash bond.

Reba Butler filed for divorce on July 11, the same day she failed a separate complaint to have her husband removed as a director of the flower shop, so he cannot "secrete assets of the company in an attempt to make bond or for other illicit purposes."

She is represented in both actions by Jonathan Lowe with Lowe, Mobley, Lowe & LeDuke.

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