Fla. woman accused of having hotel heir husband killed in NY asks court for free lawyer

Wife of hotel heir killed in NY wants free lawyer

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A Florida woman accused of having her hotel heir husband killed in New York to get his fortune says she cannot afford a lawyer.

Court documents show Narcisa Novack of Fort Lauderdale is requesting court-appointed counsel to replace her private lawyer. She and three co-defendants are due in federal court Wednesday in suburban New York.

Novack is charged in the July 2009 killing of Ben Novack Jr., whose father built the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach.

He was beaten to death at the Hilton in Rye Brook, N.Y., where his company had organized a convention.

Prosecutors say Narcy Novack let two killers into their hotel room. They say she watched as they beat her husband with dumbbells and ordered them to cut his eyes out.

She has been blocked from access to her husband’s estate.