Mistrial declared for wife accused of hiring hit man

Selection of a new jury is scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of Susan Williams, the Garden City woman accused of hiring a hit man to kill her estranged husband, after a mistrial was declared Friday on the second day of testimony.

Nassau County Court Judge Norman St. George declared the mistrial at about 2:30 p.m. after Williams' lawyer said he had not intended to sign a document, known as a stipulation, that allowed into evidence a taped phone conversation between Williams and her daughter, Alexis. When the conversation was recorded March 9, Williams had been arrested and was in the Nassau County jail in East Meadow.

St. George said the underlying confusion about admissibility of the tape, which already had been played in the Mineola courtroom late Friday morning, could be viewed as prejudicial to Williams' case, thus giving her grounds for appeal.

"No one's happy about it," Williams' lawyer, John Carman of Garden City, said after the mistrial.

The Nassau district attorney's office declined to comment. Two jurors contacted Friday evening also declined to comment.

Prosecutors say Williams, 43, a mother of four, tried to hire a hit man to kill Peter Williams, 46, with whom she was going through a bitter divorce. Williams was videotaped paying a $500 deposit on a $20,000 job to a man who actually was an undercover detective, they say.

Williams has pleaded not guilty to second-degree and fourth-degree criminal solicitation, second-degree conspiracy and second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. If convicted, she could face a maximum of 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.

On the tape of the March 9 phone conversation, Williams' 20-year-old daughter can be heard telling her mother that she has removed many documents from the family's Nassau Boulevard home. Much of the tape was inaudible, and a transcript provided to the jury was not shared with reporters.

"I went into the house yesterday and I got everything," Alexis Williams tells her mother on tape.

"I love you," her mother responds.

Prosecutors have said that Susan Williams sent Alexis to the home to remove documents, including some relating to her husband's life insurance policy and title to her Mercedes-Benz.

Carman objected Friday to the tape being played, saying the stipulation he signed was different from an earlier draft of the document upon which he and prosecutors had agreed. Under the earlier draft, Carman said, he stipulated only to the recording's authenticity if it were admitted into evidence - not agreeing to the tape's playing.

The defense attorney said prosecutors had changed the stipulation's language to say the tape would be admitted as evidence, and that he signed the document without noticing the change.

St. George allowed the tape to be played, based on the signed document.

But after lunch recess, Carman again raised the issue and the judge reviewed both the earlier draft and the final stipulation. In addition, Assistant District Attorney Anne Donnelly acknowledged the difference in the documents' language and conceded that prosecutors had not advised Carman of any change before asking him to sign the final stipulation. At that, St. George granted the mistrial.