Top Stories of 2011: The Wife, Her Friend, and Their Butcher

It was the stuff of a Dateline NBC Friday night special: Rick Sharpski is heading to his FedEx truck around dawn when a shadowy figure emerges from behind some bushes, says, "I'm going to kill you," and attacks him with a machete.

That was 2009. In May of 2011, three defendants stood trial for attempted murder and conspiracy in connection with the attack: Sharpski's wife, Mary; Michael Shores, a friend of the family and Mary's confidant; and Antonio Ortega, a friend of Shores charged with carrying out the attack, allegedy as part of a murder-for-hire plot hatched by Shores and Mary Sharpski.

Prosector Lynda Fernandez's theory of the crime was clear-cut: Mary Sharpski, seeking solace from an abusive relationship with her husband, began a new and secret relationship with Shores, a neighbor who the family agreed to take in when he fell on hard times. The two planned to take Sharpski's children and escape to Wyoming, but needed her husband out of the picture. Enter Ortega, a friend of Shores who worked as a butcher and collected swords.

The three defense attorneys in the case each painted distinct pictures of their clients' innocence. Joel Garson, representing Sharpski, focused on the abuse suffered by Mary Sharpski at the hands of her husband, and dismissed the existence of any plot as a misinterpretation of statements made in anger by his client.

Public defender Lisa Eyanson, representing Shores, denied any romantic relationship between her client and Sharpski, adding that Shores was simply unlucky for having known both Sharpski and Ortega.

Most of the heavy lifting on the defense side went to Ortega's lawyer, public defender Derek Bercher, who focused on discrediting the prosecution's witnesses and presented evidence that, he said, pointed to another attacker who was still at large.

After two weeks of , including that of both and , as well as plenty of legal gymnastics and three days of deliberation, the jury in the case wasn't able to reach a verdict.

Ortega will go to trial alone when the case resumes in February. Shores and Sharpski will face a new trial sometime in March.