A Halliday man charged with slamming his truck into his wife’s sedan, causing life-threatening injuries to her, has his pre-trial conference next week.
Investigators say George Richard Misrasi, after an argument, intentionally T-boned wife Lisa Misrasi’s vehicle in northwest Halliday on Dec. 12, 2013.
At the March 20 preliminary hearing, Dunn Co. Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Ron McCloud said originally a car crash was reported, but that when officers arrived, “it became apparent that it was a domestic assault,” according to a transcript of the hearing.
“That’s exactly right,” Lisa Misrasi told The Dickinson Press. “He tried to kill me.”
When McCloud approached George Misrasi, who stayed at the scene, and asked what happened, the man replied, “We were having an argument and this is the result of it.”
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When McCloud asked what really happened, Misrasi demanded an attorney before answering any more questions.
Lisa Misrasi said there was no argument, and that when she got home her husband was angry after damaging one of their business’s trucks.
He asked her to come look at it with him and then drove around in a way that she became cornered on a dirt road, surrounded by snow and deep embankments, she said. He then accelerated and slammed into the driver’s side of her car.
“He trapped me and then he hit me,” she said.
A Limited Collision Analysis showed the vehicle was at 100 percent acceleration and that the brakes were never activated, according to the preliminary hearing transcript. It also showed that a second before the crash, the pickup was traveling 40 miles an hour.
Lisa Misrasi said her husband has been arrested for domestically abusing her before.
She has been trying to get a divorce for a year but has struggled to find a lawyer.
After being extracted with a Jaws of Life tool after the incident, Lisa Misrasi was flown to Bismarck with life-threatening injuries but has since recovered, she said. She suffered a lacerated liver, spleen and kidney, and a broken collar bone and pelvis.
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George Misrasi’s pre-trial conference is Tuesday at 1:30, and a jury trial is scheduled to begin June 4 if he does not plead out.
If convicted of B felony aggravated assault, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines.
