An Edgewater doctor accused of murdering his wife in his waterfront apartment will not be able to access the assets in her estate until the end of his criminal case, a judge ruled Monday, stopping short of removing him as the estate’s primary representative. In a separate hearing later in the day, he was also denied bail.

Detained since Friday, Dr. James Houston, 58, did not appear before Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Elizabeth Morris as attorneys on behalf of his late wife, Nancianne Houston, argued he should no longer be in control of her estate.

In court filings, they allege Houston, a Navy veteran and former executive at MedStar Health, killed Nancianne Houston for financial benefit. Merit hearings are set for January.

The couple was in the midst of divorce at the time she was fatally stabbed. In charging documents, police described the split as a “contentious” battle involving millions of dollars in assets.

In the weeks since her death, members of Nancianne Houston’s family, including her sister, Amelia Rondo, and mother, Nancy Hodanic, have petitioned the court to separate Houston from the assets she left behind. On Friday, an emergency hearing awarded custody of the couple’s 10-year-old daughter to both relatives after a magistrate determined the child was “in imminent risk of harm” living with Houston’s girlfriend in Edgewater.

Until Friday, the Houstons’ daughter was staying at the Pier 7 Resort Marina apartment where her mother was killed.

On Aug. 9, Houston’s 58th birthday, Anne Arundel Police responded to his apartment along the South River after he told 911 operators he and his wife had attacked each other during an argument. Making their way into the gated community, officers found Houston partially draped over his wife in a pool of blood, according to charging documents.

Having suffered 22 injuries, Nancianne Houston was pronounced dead “immediately,” police said. She was 47.

During a bail hearing Monday, defense and prosecuting attorneys argued Houston and his wife were trying to defend themself from the other.

Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess pointed to some of Nancianne Houston’s injuries and the items found around her — her purse, keys and water bottle — as evidence she was trying to leave the apartment when attacked. Conversely, defense attorney Charles Chaffin said his client’s injuries, including an 8-inch “slice” on the top of his head, would not have been possible if Houston had been standing up.

Houston was taken to a shock trauma center in Baltimore for emergency surgery and placed in an induced coma, according to charging documents. He was released five days later, though Chaffin said a cut to his client’s left arm caused the doctor to permanently lose use of part of his hand. Houston, who attended the hearing via webcam, could be seen from jail wearing a white bandage from just beneath his elbow to his hand.

As the attorneys described the injuries to both James and Nancianne Houston, spectators in the courtroom, most of whom were there for other matters, groaned. When asked by both lawyers if she wanted to see photographs, Anne Arundel District Judge Jennifer Alexander declined, saying she trusted their accounts.

Though Chaffin said his client’s medical needs made it impossible for him to leave Maryland — Houston told the judge if he left the state and his doctors, he was “going to die” — Alexander said after reading the accusations, there was “no way I’d allow [ Houston] to be released” and ordered him held at the Jennifer Road Detention Center without bail.

John Robinson III will represent Houston in the criminal case, according to the Maryland Judiciary. The next criminal hearing is scheduled for Oct. 23 in Annapolis District Court.

Both proceedings Monday provided Nancianne Houston’s family two substantial victories.

Attorney Jonathan Pasterick, who represented the family in the estate case alongside Samuel J. Brown, said if Houston was allowed to access his wife’s assets, he would likely use them to pay for his legal defense in all three of his cases: the murder trial, and the civil matters around custody and Nancianne Houston’s estate.

“That’s what we are trying to prevent,” he told Judge Morris.

Ronald Jarashow, who defended Houston Monday morning with Jennifer Henriquez, acknowledged his client would need money to pay for his legal fees. He said the doctor wasn’t necessarily looking to his wife’s assets for funding, however, and argued Houston should have access to the things the couple shared — such as their home in Edgewater, which state records show they bought together in 2020 for $1.06 million.

Morris, the circuit court judge, did not disqualify Houston as a representative to his wife’s estate but chose to extend a temporary restraining order preventing him from accessing her assets until the end of his criminal case.

Jarashow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“It is refreshing to see that the court system takes the plight of a 10-year-old girl so seriously and does what is right for the victim and her family while still applying the dictates of the law,” Pasterick and Brown wrote in a statement in the custody case. “There is still a lot to do, but the family of Nancianne Houston will not give up in getting the justice that she and her daughter deserve.”

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