New & Noteworthy...Judge Raps Murder Trial ProsecutorAugust 23, 2006 A District Court judge has rejected murder suspect Carolyn Walters' effort to punish prosecutors handling her case, but not before he issued a scathing opinion criticizing the county prosecutor's office for not turning over key medical evidence. "The failure to disclose these materials, which violates both state law and the defendant's constitutional rights, is grossly negligent professional conduct," Judge Michael Kupersmith wrote in his seven-page decision. Prosecutors said they have started to revise how they share evidence and documents with defendants, a process known as discovery. Walters, 45, of Colchester pleaded not guilty in September 2004 to a charge of second-degree murder stemming from the 2003 death of her sister, Mary Abeling, 48, also of Colchester. Defense attorneys last winter accused the prosecutor's office of pressuring the medical examiner to declare Abeling's death a homicide -- an accusation Kupersmith rejected in his ruling -- and of withholding medical records that document Abeling's suicidal thoughts near the time of her death. Lawyer David Williams sought an order to remove the Chittenden County State's Attorney's Office from the case. Kupersmith denied that request, but only because the prosecution's conduct was negligent rather than willfully deceitful, according to the opinion, filed last week in Vermont District Court in Burlington. Deputy State's Attorney John St. Francis was "personally responsible" for ensuring the defense received the documents in question, the judge wrote. Because the conduct wasn't purposeful, Kupersmith concluded, punishment is not appropriate -- yet. "Since the court has not found bad faith but only gross negligence, this court cannot impose a sanction on Attorney St. Francis," the judge wrote. "However, after the notice provided by this order, future 'negligent' discovery violations may be subject to sanctions." St. Francis said the prosecutor's office always has had a discovery process in which defense attorneys could view and copy files at any time. Problems arose, he said, when all the information that should be in a file was not. In the Walters case, for instance, St. Francis testified during a hearing last month on the defense request that he believed the police had included the medical records in the file, which the defense had then copied in its entirety. The documents in question -- records from Appletree Bay Medical Center and Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington -- were of such importance that keeping them from the defense could have cost prosecutors a conviction on appeal, Kupersmith wrote. St. Francis said that it's "imperative" discovery be "systematic, orderly and complete." Acting State's Attorney Margaret Vincent plans to meet with law enforcement during the next few weeks to discuss improving the process, St. Francis said. "The goal of the prosecutor's office isn't simply to convict people, it's to seek justice, and that can only happen with an open discovery process," he said. Prosecutors have said in court filings that Walters admitted she hit her sister over the head with a heavy glass decanter during an argument at Abeling's home. The defense has suggested that any attack might have coincided with Abeling's attempt to commit suicide. If so, a jury could find Walters guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter. Walters, who is jailed at the Dale Correctional Facility in Waterbury, faces 20 years in prison if convicted of the murder charge. Her trial is scheduled to begin in October. Kupersmith said the problem in the Walters case is symptomatic of a larger mess at the State's Attorney's Office, which "lacks an organized and systematic method" of ensuring that defendants receive all material to which they are entitled. The judge gave the office 90 days "to implement an orderly and systematic discovery process." Contact Adam Silverman at 660-1854 or asilverm@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com |