Deep into the then biggest-dollar divorce
in the history of Broward County, Florida, in which she's so far winning everything, Mrs. Luskin gets an unexpected flower delivery of cheap azaleas at the mansion she'd kicked her husband out of after he'd had an affair with his high-school girlfriend. Behind the pastel pistils comes a gleaming silver pistol. The man screams it's a robbery, he just wants her money. She tells police that he hit her in the head with the gun, but federal prosecutors later insist she was shot and grazed by a bullet, although no bullet was ever found and the room was mirrored on four sides. On that hinges the husband's conviction for attempted murder-for-hire conspiracy. He goes to prison for 15 years and marries his high-school girlfriend, but was he guilty? It turns out that the prosecutors at trial had held back evidence proving their star witness had crucially lied. But were prosecutors otherwise basically right, only that someone
else
who they hadn't charged -- not the husband -- was behind it all? Flowers for Mrs. Luskin was originally published by Avon Books. Story appeared as the cover story of newspaper magazines in The Miami Herald, Baltimore Sun, and Orlando Sentinel.
A Millionaire Has An Affair. His Wife Throws Him Out. She Gets The Mansion, The Business, The Cash. His Parents' Business. His Parents' Cash. She Gets Shot And Doesn't Know It. The Bullet Disappears. He Goes To Prison. His Parents Flee The Country. He Weds The Other Woman Behind Bars. Has There Ever Been A Case Like This?
-The Miami Herald