Judge rules mistrial in Susan Williams case

A long year just got a little longer for former Rockville Centre resident Susan Williams -- the 43-year-old mother who allegedly hired a hit man last February to kill her estranged husband.

On Friday, just three days into the start of her criminal case, Judge Norman St. George declared a mistrial at the Mineola courthouse after learning that Williams’ Defense Attorney John Carman mistakenly signed a stipulation that allowed the prosecution to play an incriminating phone recording between Williams and her daughter Alexis to the jury. The recording, which disclosed a jailhouse conversation between the two, suggested evidence tampering and foul play.

Carman told the judge that he did not mean to sign the form, and said that he thought he only agreed on the tape’s authenticity when he signed a stipulation to have the recording admitted into evidence.

“Mistakes can be made,” said Carman.

On the phone recording, Williams’ daughter is heard telling her mother that she removed certain items from her Garden City house, including credit cards and a $1 milllion dollar life insurance policy that Williams is accused of forging.

“I got everything,” Alexa can be heard saying to her mother on the recording.

Last February, Williams allegedly offered to pay an undercover cop disguised as a hit man $20,000 to kill her ex-husband Peter. Williams has been charged with conspiracy, two counts of criminal solicitation and criminal possession of a forged instrument. She faces 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Jury selections for her trial were expected to resume Monday morning, November 1.