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Jury Finds Garden City 'Hit-Plot' Mom Guilty

MINEOLA, N.Y. (1010 WINS/CBS 2/AP) -- Susan Williams showed no emotion as a jury found her guilty of plotting to kill her husband Peter, 1010 WINS Mona Rivera reported.

The verdict was delivered following four hours of deliberations and after jurors were shown clips from a surveillance video that showed Susan Williams trying to hire an undercover police officer posing as a freelance killer.

The 44-year-old Garden City woman was found guilty of conspiracy and criminal possession of a forged instrument after deliberating on Monday. She faces up to 25 years in prison.

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1010 WINS Reporter Mona Rivera with the latest from the Mineola courthouse

Prosecutors had argued that the mother of four offered $20,000 to the undercover officer. They say she paid $500 as a down payment.

Monday night, jurors kept deliberations mostly to themselves.

"Just a very difficult decision. Unfortunate," one juror said.

"Justice was served, but there are really no winners...It was a really tough case," another juror said.

"We're gratified the jury got to see a clear window into the soul of Susan Williams," Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice said.

Also Monday, the boyfriend of the couple's eldest daughter, Alexis Williams, was arrested on witness tampering charges.  The arrest of 22-year-old Frank Trapani was related to the dismissal of a juror in the case last Friday, Rivera reported.

Police said Trapani, of Atlantic Beach, was arrested because he allegedly contacted a Nassau County Court juror via telephone.   When police arrested him in front of his home, authorities found what they called drug residue of an "off-white powdery substance."

Trapani has been charged with 1st Degree tampering and 7th Degree Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance.

The jury was riveted Monday as audio and videotapes of Williams' exchange with the undercover cop were re-played, CBS 2's Jennifer McLogan reported.

EXTRA: Full Transcript of Susan Williams' Meeting With Undercover Detective

Williams: I want him more than hurt.

Officer: Right. I understand. You want him dead.

Williams: God. I don't want to say it. You said it (laughs).

Defense Attorney John Carman told the jury Susan Williams was like a puppet in the plot to kill her husband.

Prosecutor Anne Donnelly scoffed at the notion that Williams was set up and said Susan Williams wanted her husband dead so she could get a $1 million life insurance policy.

Carman told jurors that his client only wanted her husband to be roughed up. He said she was pressured into the plot by a private investigator and the detective.

Susan Williams' family and the defense attorney promised to appeal the decision.

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