VAN WERT, Ohio (AP) _ A professional clown pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge that he tried to get a hit man to kill his wife in exchange for a microwave oven and other considerations.

LeRoy Hullinger, 52, who performed at parties in northwestern Ohio as Buttons the Clown, had been charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Under a plea bargain, he was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of attempted felonious assault.

He could be sentenced to 10 years in prison, and that disappoints his wife, Elisabeth.

″My life is worth more than 10 years,″ she said.

Police detective Ralph Eversole testified that on Jan. 24, a friend of Hullinger had told him that Hullinger wanted his wife killed.

The friend, George Martin, told the detective that Hullinger had filed for divorce and feared his wife would win custody of their three children.

Martin set up a March 6 meeting between Hullinger and a sheriff’s deputy posing as a hit man.

Hullinger told the deputy that he would give him a microwave oven as a down payment for the job and pay an undetermined sum of money after his wife was dead.

He also suggested that the hit man kill her by blowing up a gas furnace to avoid suspicion.

Ed Hatcher, Hullinger’s lawyer, said the plea bargain was the best he could do for his client.

″They had a very strong case,″ he said.

Hullinger remained in jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Van Wert County Common Pleas Judge Sumner Walters scheduled sentencing for June 6 and ordered Hullinger to undergo psychiatric evaluation.

Hullinger could have been sentenced to 25 years in prison if convicted of the conspiracy charge.