Woman beats husband with Jesus plaque because ‘she thought he was the devil,’ police say

Pictured is a mosaic of Jesus Christ inside Messina Cathedral on the Piazza del Duomo in Messina, Sicily.

Credit: Eye Ubiquitous/UIG via Getty Images

Credit: Eye Ubiquitous/UIG via Getty Images

Pictured is a mosaic of Jesus Christ inside Messina Cathedral on the Piazza del Duomo in Messina, Sicily.

A woman arguing with her husband on Saturday in upstate New York chose what Jesus would not do when she bludgeoned him repeatedly with a wooden plaque with a picture of Christ on it, police said.

Laura A. Fraley and her husband were arguing at their Hartford home because she wanted him to join the Mormon church, according to the Post-Star in Glens Falls. A New York State Police investigator told the newspaper that the husband, who was not named publicly, then mentioned an ex-boyfriend of Fraley's, which angered her further.

The victim, who was hit up to 10 times with the plaque, fled the house and called 911. The Post-Star reported that he suffered cuts to the head and face, bruises and a possibly broken finger.

Troopers responding to the 911 call found Fraley standing outside the house with a 8-foot-long tree branch, which she is accused of waving at them. When she refused to put the branch down, she was shot with a stun gun.

Fraley continued to fight the troopers as they placed her into custody, the newspaper reported.

"She made a comment that she hit him with a plaque of Jesus because she thought he was the devil," investigator Kevin Reppenhagen told the Post-Star.

Fraley was charged with second-degree assault, a felony in New York, and misdemeanor charges of menacing, criminal possession of a weapon, resisting arrest and criminal mischief. She was being held in the Washington County, New York, jail without bail.