A judge on Friday maintained bail at $1.02 million for a 31-year-old Hilo woman accused of stabbing her elderly father-in-law and taking her 1-year-old daughter from him in violation of both a custodial order and protective order.
Hilo District Judge Mahilani Hiatt also ordered Frances Hartman to return at 2 p.m. Wednesday for a preliminary hearing. Hiatt denied a defense motion to cut Hartman’s bail by half.
Hartman is charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree custodial interference, second-degree terroristic threatening and violating an order of protection.
According to court documents filed by police, 77-year-old William Hartman said he was playing with his granddaughter in his yard in Hilo’s Komohana Gardens subdivision at about 9:16 a.m. Aug. 31 when his estranged daughter-in-law entered the property without his permission.
William Hartman said he picked up the infant and told Frances Hartman “you don’t belong here,” documents state. The woman reportedly replied, “Give me my baby or I’m going to kill you.”
The elderly man repeated to his daughter-in-law that she didn’t belong there and added, “You know about the TRO,” according to the documents.
At that time, Frances Hartman allegedly repeated her threat to kill the senior citizen if he didn’t give her the baby, and then pulled a box-cutter out of her pants pocket.
William Hartman allegedly told the suspect “you don’t want to do this” just before she reportedly stabbed him twice in the abdomen.
The elderly man told police he was too weak from blood loss to continue hanging on to his granddaughter, and the woman took the infant and left on foot, the documents state.
Frances Hartman was taken into custody by police a short time later at a nearby neighborhood park, police said. Officers returned the baby unharmed her to her father, Alexander Hartman, the sole legal custodian.
Police also recovered the box-cutter with the bloody blade after executing a search warrant on a bag carried by Frances Hartman.
A doctor told officers William Hartman sustained a wound to the small intestine and a hemorrhage of the fatty tissue draped around the intestines, causing what the documents describe as “serious bodily injury with a substantial risk of death.”
The elderly man was still hospitalized as of Friday, police said.
Hilo District Family Court Judge Jeffrey Ng on June 18 granted Alexander Hartman and the couple’s daughter an order for protection from Frances Hartman, effective until Jan. 18, 2025.
Frances Hartman also was serving a two-year probation term after being sentenced by Hilo District Family Court Judge Darien Nagata on May 11 for violating a previous TRO. The victim of that TRO violation was Alexander Hartman.
Prosecutors have provided notice to seek an extended term of imprisonment, alleging that Frances Hartman is an offender against the elderly. An extended prison term would mean that Hartman would face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted on the attempted murder charge.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.