BOSTON (AP) – A man who hired hit men to kill his wife while he was behind bars awaiting trial for rape was sentenced to 60 to 70 years in prison Thursday.

Maxene Pierre, 41, was convicted in Suffolk Superior Court last month of three counts of conspiracy to commit murder, three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of armed robbery, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and two counts of assault and battery, according to District Attorney Daniel Conley’s office.

Pierre and two other men, Max Celestin, 24, and Eddy Privat, 25, forced a man and a woman from their car at gunpoint in Boston’s Franklin Park in Aug. 2000, and took turns raping the 22-year-old woman, who was from New Hampshire. They robbed the two, then fled.

Police stopped them a short distance away, and arrested them.

While held in jail, Pierre hatched a plan to pay for the murder of the woman’s companion, and also pay his own $50,000 bail.

The plan involved killing Pierre’s wife, then collecting the insurance money, which would be used to bail out Pierre and pay for the murder of the rape victim’s companion. Pierre’s wife was shot by two men on motorcycle when she returned home to Haiti, but she survived. The plot was reported by Pierre’s Massachusetts cellmate, the man Pierre planned to pay to kill the rape victim’s companion.

Pierre’s girlfriend, Yanick Merilas, 38, of Boston, is awaiting trial for conspiracy to commit murder. When the plot to kill Pierre’s wife failed, Merilas allegedly sold her house to raise money for Pierre’s bail and pay his cellmate to kill the witness. Her trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 14.

Celestin and Privat pled guilty to aggravated rape, assault and robbery charges in June 2003. They were each sentenced to 26-30 years in state prison.

AP-ES-10-07-04 1752EDT