Attorneys contend Nathan Carman is competent to stand trial
RUTLAND, Vt. — A former Connecticut resident accused of killing his mother off the coast of Block Island in 2016 in a plot to inherit a cut of the family's $42 million estate will not be required to undergo a competency evaluation to determine if he is fit to stand trial, records show.
Nathan Carman, 28, pleaded not guilty on May 11 inside a federal Vermont courthouse on first-degree murder and multiple fraud charges in connection with the death of his mother, Linda Carman.
During an appearance in U.S. District in Rutland, Vt., this afternoon, Carman's federal public defenders and federal prosecutors told Chief Judge Geoffrey Crawford they had no concerns about his competency, court records show.
Carman also indicated he wanted to continue to be represented by federal public defenders, Michael Desautels, Mary Nerino and Sara Puls.
The federal eight-count indictment, which was unsealed May 10, also alleged Nathan Carman shot and killed his grandfather, John Chakalos, at his Windsor home in 2013 to defraud insurance companies. However, Carman has not been charged with Chakalos' death.
Carman has been detained without bond since his arrest May 10 and was considered a flight risk after federal agents found $10,000 in cash during a search of his home, court documents said.
Vermont U.S. Attorney Nikolas Kerest stated in a motion seeking Carman's continued detention that the former Connecticut resident had significant untreated mental health issues making him a danger to the community if released.
“Carman's alleged conduct clearly illustrates danger to the community: The evidence shows that he killed not once, but twice,” Kerest stated in his motion. “Moreover, the individuals Carman killed were his own family members. For an individual to kill his own family members, nothing is off the table.”
Kerest filed a motion Thursday seeking to have certain evidence “protected” from public view. Carman would only be able to see the evidence if he was with one of his public defenders and he can not have a copy. No one connected with the case could disseminate the evidence and there will be no public record of the items or some witness identities if a judge grants the motion. Crawford granted the motion minutes after Friday's proceedings.
Carman's federal public defenders were granted a 60-day continuance on a detention hearing first scheduled for May 13 based on the complexity of the case, documents said.
The case has vexed investigators for nearly a decade, drawing questions as to why Vermont federal authorities suddenly sought an arrest after six years, according to the Associated Press. However, federal prosecutors have not commented on the timing of the case and an indictment offers no indication whether new evidence was discovered.
Legal experts and other law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that the delay in bringing a criminal case could be the result of several factors, including that his mother and his boat have never been found.
In 2016, authorities allege Carman took his mother on a fishing trip aboard his boat — named the Chicken Pox — intending to kill her in hopes of inheriting the money that she would receive from the family's estate which was slated to be distributed to Linda Carman and her sisters after their father's death, according to the federal indictment.
Nathan Carman, a former Middletown resident, was found alone in a life raft eight days after the boat departed a Rhode Island marina. His mother was never found.
His grandfather's estate is worth $42 million and has not been settled, according to Connecticut probate court records.
“As a central part of the scheme, Nathan Carman murdered John Chakalos and Linda Carman,” the indictment stated.
Kerest, through a spokesperson, declined to comment on the case.
Federal Public Defender Michael Desautels, whose office is defending Carman, also declined to comment on the indictment.
“His state of mind is strong, and he knows he has a good
team of defense lawyers working for him,” Desautels told the AP.
Windsor Police Chief Donald Melanson who has been with the department for a few years credited Vermont federal authorities with pulling the case together.
“One of the issues is jurisdiction, especially when you cross state lines, and who has the ability to bring all that together under one roof,“Melanson said. “And I think that's why, rightfully so, the U.S. attorney's office took that and took responsibility for that and brought everything together.”
“When you look at the overall picture … it brings, to me, a very clear picture of how everything tied together to achieve his (Carman's) goals,“he said.
In 2014, before Melanson joined the department, Windsor police drafted an arrest warrant charging Carman with murder in his grandfather's death, but a state prosecutor declined to sign it and requested more information, according to a search warrant for Linda Carman's home in Middletown, obtained by police after she disappeared at sea. Neither
state nor federal prosecutors in Connecticut or Rhode Island ever brought any charges against Carman.
The alleged scheme began in November 2013 when Nathan Carman purchased a Sig Sauer rifle using a New Hampshire license he had obtained, despite living in a rented apartment in Bloomfield, according to the indictment.
The federal indictment alleged “Nathan Carman murdered his grandfather, John Chakalos, shooting him twice with the Sig Sauer” while the man was sleeping in his Windsor home on Dec. 20, 2013.
Authorities believe Nathan Carman also discarded a GPS device in his truck and his computer hard drive to cover up that killing, the indictment stated. Windsor police said they have turned the investigation over to the Chief State's Attorney's Cold Case Unit.
Following his grandfather's death, the indictment claimed Carman received around $550,000 between a beneficiaryon-death account and a college account set up by Chakalos.
After moving to Vermont in 2014, Carman depleted most of that money by 2016, according
to the indictment.
“By the fall of 2016, he was low on funds,” the indictment stated.
“In September 2016, Nathan Carman arranged to go on a fishing trip on the Chicken Pox with his mother, Linda Carman,” the indictment stated. “Nathan Carman planned to kill his mother on the trip. He also planned how he would report the sinking of the Chicken Pox and his mother's disappearance at sea as accidents.”
The indictment claimed Carman killed his mother, then hid from search-and-rescue teams after the vessel failed to return. He was eventually picked up by a commercial vessel.
The following month, he filed an $85,000 insurance claim for the Chicken Pox, the indictment stated. He lost the claim after a nearly three-year court battle. His mother's sisters have also been battling in probate court to prohibit Nathan Carman from inheriting his mother's share of the estate.