A jury found Ashley Butts, 37, guilty of conspiring to have her landlord assaulted. She faces two to five years in state prison
Early one morning seven years ago, a masked man entered a home in South Los Angeles armed with a metal pipe and a gun.
Prosecutors made the case that Butts, embroiled in a dispute with the owner of a home on 78th Street where she rented a room, hired an associate to beat her landlord. One day, a friend accidentally let Butts’ dogs into the backyard. She came home to find Tiger’s ear, “hanging off of his head,” she testified.
Despite their issues as landlord and tenant, Daniels liked Butts and was interested in her romantically, although he sensed she didn’t feel the same way. Eighteen days later, Butts found two bicycles she’d left chained to the side of the house were missing. She accused Daniels of stealing them.“Were you upset enough about the bikes to have Mr. Daniels harmed?” asked her attorney, Joseph Weimortz.At 10:57 p.m. on April 29, 2016, Butts sweetened the deal. She texted Rios: “$200”Butts paid for a driver to pick up Rios and a friend in Long Beach and take them to Daniels’ home, Uber records showed.
Based on how close they were – just two feet apart – Daniels said he did not believe the intruder intended to kill him. Weimortz, Butts’ attorney, argued the prosecution and the police cherry-picked text messages to stitch together a story of a sinister conspiracy, while ignoring the many more messages in which Butts and Rios discussed buying marijuana, getting lunch and other innocuous topics.
In 2014, two Long Beach police officers were handcuffing Butts, who was suspected of stealing a dog, when she allegedly tried to resist. One of the officers yanked her to the ground by her hair and Butts bit him in the arm, according to testimony. The officer shocked her with his Taser.
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