Escorted by a Corrections officer, William Hart, left, enters the Guma Hustisia for a bail hearing on Friday.
AFTER his wife filed a walk-in complaint with the Department of Public Safety, William Hart, 40, was arrested for threatening his wife with a gun.
On Friday, Hart appeared before Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho for a bail hearing.
Hart was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, assault, and disturbing the peace.
At the hearing, the court appointed Assistant Public Defender Molly Dennert to represent the defendant, while Assistant Attorney General Carmen Borja appeared for the government.
Dennert asked the court to reduce bail and or allow Hart to be released on an unsecured bond.
Citing the seriousness of the allegations, Borja asked the court to deny the request and maintain the $20,000 cash bail against the defendant.
Judge Camacho maintained the cash bail and remanded Hart to the custody of the Department of Corrections. Hart was also ordered to return to court on Aug. 18 at 10 a.m. for a preliminary hearing, and on Aug. 21 at 9 a.m. for an arraignment.
According to the complaint against Hart, his wife told police that he was back on methamphetamine, and since he started using it again, he had been extremely aggressive and constantly starting arguments with her.
She said on Aug. 9, Hart picked a fight with her, asking why he had to go work when he had gout.
She said Hart got aggressive and started using combative language with her and cussing her.
She quoted Hart as saying, “If anything happens or if you take my daughter. I will shoot everybody, and I will haunt you for the rest of my life.”
The wife told police that she was terrified because Hart had two unregistered firearms hidden in their residence.
She said she feared for her, her daughter’s, and her family members’ lives, adding that he is “willing and capable of killing them.”
She said when she left the house with her two-year-old daughter to the Life in the Son Church in Gualo Rai, Hart followed.
The church’s pastor counseled them, she said, and let them rest in the children’s playroom.
She said as she was lying on the couch, Hart became upset that she was making him watch their child.
She said Hart approached her and started pushing her head aggressively with his hand several times while asking “You’re sleeping?”
She added that Hart then used his hands and grabbed her neck and dragged her off the couch onto the ground.
She said the pastor came back and counseled them again. Later, they went home before proceeding to Saipan World Resort where Hart had gotten them a room.
By 10 p.m., she said Hart was asleep, but she could not sleep because she was afraid of him.
The following day, Aug. 10, she said she woke up and asked Hart to grab breakfast with her. She said she immediately felt the tension and anger of Hart toward her for reaching out to their pastor for help.
They drove to Galaxy Snack Bar in Chalan Kanoa where Hart got down from the vehicle. She said she saw it as her chance and so she drove off and went straight to DPS central to file a report.
She told police that in the past, Hart had threatened her verbally while intimidating and taunting her with his handgun, telling her that he would kill her.
She said Hart would also get mad every time she stepped outside the house and watched her every move from the three security cameras that he had installed in their house.
Hart also physically abused her numerous times, she said, pushing her so hard that she had a miscarriage.
She said every single night Hart would pick a fight with her. She said he puts her down, calling her crazy, stupid, a “bad person that nobody wants,” and that “she has nowhere to run.”
She said Hart also stopped her from reaching out to her family for any support.
