Trial of former Rockville Centre resident to start

Susan Williams, the former Rockville Centre resident accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill her estranged husband last February, arrived at the Nassau County district courthouse in Mineola on Monday for a preliminary court hearing before Judge Norman St. George.

Williams’s attorney, John Carman, previously refused a plea deal, and jury selection for the upcoming trial was expected to begin on Tuesday, as the Herald went to press.

Last winter, Williams, 43, allegedly offered to pay an undercover Nassau County police officer posing as a hit man $20,000 to murder her husband, Peter Williams, while the couple was in the midst of contentious divorce proceedings. During a Feb. 19 encounter that was recorded on surveillance video and audiotape, Susan Williams allegedly gave the officer a photograph of her husband, along with his license plate number and a down payment of $500. She was arrested and charged with conspiracy and criminal solicitation. If convicted, she could face up to 25 years in prison.

St. George ruled on Monday that the audiotape of Williams’s meeting with the undercover officer will be admissible as evidence, and will be played in its entirety once the proceedings begin.

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