Wife Backs Lawyer-Husband in Alleged Plot to Kill Her; Was Arrest Delayed for Bar Mitzvah?
Yvonne Stern has dropped the divorce petition against her husband, a Houston-area personal injury lawyer, and says she doesn’t believe allegations that he tried to have her killed even though she took a bullet in her stomach last May.
Prosecutors think otherwise. Jeffrey Mark Stern has been indicted on charges that he solicited the murder of his wife, the Houston Chronicle reports. The indictment was unsealed on Monday, and Stern was expected to turn himself in on Tuesday.
Yvonne Marie Stern was shot in the abdomen last May 5 in what was at least the third shooting attempt. In the others, someone drove by the Sterns’ Bellaire home and started shooting, and then two months later someone rang the doorbell and began firing through the door.
Yvonne Stern’s lawyer, Chip Lewis, issued a statement that reads: “Mrs. Stern and her family continue to believe in [Jeffrey Stern’s] innocence and will stand beside him throughout this process.”
Jeffrey Stern’s mistress, Michelle Cabrera Gaiser, is one of five people arrested last year in the alleged plot. Stern maintains he had no knowledge of any murder plans.
Jeffrey Stern had asked to delay his arrest so he could attend his son’s Bar Mitzvah, Chip Lewis told KHOU.com. Authorities refused to say whether that was the reason Stern wasn’t immediately arrested when he was indicted last week.
