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Murder suspect's team issues misconduct claim

 A Chittenden County prosecutor said Thursday he did not disclose records to the state medical examiner and defense lawyers during the investigation of a 2003 death and the prosecution of a murder charge.

What sanctions, if any, a judge might impose on prosecutors could depend on how important the undisclosed documents are and whether the failure to share them was an oversight or designed to encourage the medical examiner to rule the death a homicide.

The daylong hearing in Vermont District Court in Burlington was held after attorneys for murder suspect Carolyn Walters, 45, of Colchester, accused the State's Attorney's Office of misconduct. Walters' defense is seeking the removal of prosecutors from handling the case so they can be called as witnesses in her trial. Prosecutors deny wrongdoing. 

Walters pleaded not guilty in September 2004 to a charge of second-degree murder stemming from the death of her sister, Mary Abeling, 48, of Colchester, whose body was discovered in her home March 1, 2003. Walters is jailed at the Dale Correctional Facility in Waterbury awaiting trial.

David Williams, one of Walters' attorneys, said prosecutor John St. Francis withheld medical records, including documents from Fletcher Allen Health Care and the Howard Center for Human Services in Burlington. The records indicate Abeling previously attempted suicide and, on the night of her death, made an emergency phone call to say life was "not worth living."

The prosecution and defense agree that Abeling was hit in the head, and that she had an unusually high level of antidepressants in her system when she died. Prosecutors contend the head injuries were the sole cause of death; the defense counters that the drugs and the wound could have combined to kill Abeling. 

At stake is whether Walters could be held liable for manslaughter rather than murder.

Prosecutors said in court papers filed this week that Walters confessed to hitting her sister once in the head with a wine decanter during a fight.

"Carolyn didn't know why she went into the kitchen, and didn't remember picking up a clear glass decanter, but remembered having it in her hand," St. Francis wrote, quoting from a report of a forensic psychologist who interviewed Walters. "Mary was still shouting at Carolyn. Carolyn struck Mary on the back of the head."

Abeling's injuries, including a skull fracture, indicate that Walters struck her sister at least five times, according to prosecutors.

Experts who testified Thursday disagreed about whether then-Medical Examiner Paul Morrow might have reached a different conclusion about the cause of Abeling's death if he had seen the medical records.

St. Francis, called as a witness in the court hearing, said Morrow's office could have obtained the records directly from the source, and that his failure to turn them over to Walters' attorneys was the result of an "oversight" that led him to believe the defense already had the documents.

Judge Michael Kupersmith did not indicate Thursday when he would issue a ruling.

Contact Adam Silverman at 660-1854 or asilverm@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com