Ex-boyfriend allegedly arranged hit

BOSTON, April 6 (UPI) -- Investigators say a Massachusetts woman shot and wounded outside her home was the target of a bungled hit to keep her from testifying against an ex-boyfriend.

Marybeth Banks, 31, of Pembroke, an instructor at a Fred Astaire dance studio, survived the shooting. The alleged hit man, Dorian Membreno, 25, of Bridgeport, Conn., made a brief appearance Monday in federal court, where he was assigned a public defender and ordered to be held pending a detention hearing Thursday, the Boston Herald reported.

Membreno, a Nicaraguan immigrant, allegedly admitted the shooting and told investigators Anthony DeJoseph III, 32, offered him between $7,000 and $10,000 and gave him a gun to use, an affidavit by a U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says.

Banks told police she had just returned home and was in her car when she noticed a motion sensor light was on and a man was running.

"Ms. Banks heard several extremely loud bangs, observed a bright light and felt a sharp pain on the left side of her body," the affidavit said.

DeJoseph, a Wolcott, Conn., resident, was scheduled to go on trial soon in Connecticut on charges of assaulting Banks last year. He is being held on an unrelated assault charge.