A Plattsmouth, Nebraska, man who was convicted of trying to hire a hit man to kill his wife and his Iowa in-laws will spend 20 years in prison. Thirty-five-year old Robert Harden was sentenced Tuesday for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Harden was arrested last year at an Omaha motel after trying to hire an undercover FBI agent to carry out the killings. At that time he maintained his innocence.
"I love my wife, I love my daughter. I would never do anything to harm them in any form, shape, what-have-you because the only person who has the right to say who stay and who goes is the man we all meet one day." Harden says he was set up. "I’m emotionally distraught because I can’t believe she is doing this," Harden said at the time.
"I was talked into going over the Econo-Lodge hotel about a supposed hit man and the next thing I know I walk out the hotel room door and there’s like three FBI dudes with a gun." The whole incident was caught on videotape. Harden gave agents specific information, where to find his wife and in-laws in Mallard, Iowa, and even gave them a map showing the layout of the house and photographs of family members.