Accused Garden City hit-plot mom again seeks lower bail

A Garden City mom accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill her estranged husband is making a last-ditch effort Tuesday to get out of jail while she awaits trial.

John Carman, a lawyer for Susan Williams, 43, took her case to an appellate court in Brooklyn, saying that the $2-million bond or $1-million cash set last week by Nassau County Judge Norman St. George is unreasonably high.

He said Williams - a mother of four whose parents previously offered their Franklin Square house as a guarantee so she could post bail and get out of jail - has strong ties to the community and will not flee.

But prosecutor Jane Zwirn-Turkin told the appellate panel that new evidence that Williams fraudulently changed her husband Peter Williams' life insurance policy before she tried to arrange his killing strengthens the prosecution's case and gives Williams more cause to flee.

The prosecutor also said that Williams has shown a disregard for the law, sending her family members to take things out of the Nassau Boulevard home in which she and the couple's two younger children were living until her March 4 arrest.

Peter Williams, 46, who owns a fence company in Lynbrook, lives there now with the two children.

The appellate panel is set to decide on Susan Williams' bail later Tuesday.

Carman's application marks the second time he has gone to a higher court to lower his client's bail. The first time - a month after Williams' arrest - the panel did so, lowering it to $500,000.

Nassau prosecutors say Williams, amid a lengthy and bitter divorce, asked an acquaintance in February to refer her to a hit man. The supposed hit man - actually an undercover police officer - videotaped Williams as she paid him a $500 deposit on a $20,000 arrangement, prosecutors have said.

Williams pleaded not guilty after her arrest on charges of second-degree criminal solicitation and second-degree conspiracy. Bail originally was set at $1-million bond or $500,000 cash; upon appeal, an Appellate Division judge lowered it to $500,000 cash and Williams' parents put up their home as a guarantee.

Williams was released March 26 from the Nassau County jail in East Meadow.

On May 3, Williams pleaded not guilty to new charges of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument - the life insurance policy - and fourth-degree criminal solicitation. At that time, St. George raised her bail to $2-million bond or $1-million cash, and she again was jailed.

If convicted of the top charge against her, Williams could face a maximum sentence of 81/3 to 25 years in prison.