sentence and three years probation for plotting to have her husband's legs broken.

Mrs. Burrows Marsh 50, of Boston, pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted assault with a dangerous weapon and two counts of solicitation of a felony in Suffolk County Superior Court on March 3.

In court, before Judge Regina Quinlan, Mrs. Burrows Marsh admitted that she hired a 37-year-old man to enter her home and break one or both of her husband's legs.

Her husband, Phillip Marsh, is a 55-year-old arson squad investigator with the Boston Fire Service. The couple are now divorced.

The court heard that the man Burrows Marsh hired to do the deed reported the matter to a Police officer who then posed as a hitman.

Burrows Marsh, represented by lawyer Nancy Hurley, was said to have met the plainclothes officer in a park and she told him that she wanted both her husband's legs broken. She gave the "hit man'' directions to her home, a licence number and a picture of her husband.

After the meeting, Burrows Marsh paid the "hit man'' $200 and told him about the coins and jewellery belonging to her husband which he could take as payment.

In court, Mr. Marsh asked the court for a sentence that would not require his former wife to spend any more time in prison.

Assistant District Attorney Gary Schubert asked for a two-year prison sentence with Burrows Marsh serving six months behind bars and the rest suspended in addition to three years' probation.

Burrows Marsh was initially charged with attempting to commit a crime when she was first arraigned last August. But additional charges of attempting to commit a robbery were brought against her in Superior Court.