Carman seeks grand jury minutes

Vermont man charged with killing mother, a Middletown resident

The man charged with killing his mother at sea during a 2016 fishing trip off the coast of New England is asking for minutes from the grand jury proceeding that led to his indictment, seeking to learn what was disclosed about his grandfather's death three years earlier.

Nathan Carman, 29, of Vernon, Vermont, is accused of plotting to inherit millions of dollars. He pleaded not guilty last year to fraud and first-degree murder in the death of his mother, Linda Carman of Middletown, Connecticut.

Carman's grandfather, John Chakalos, was shot to death at his home in Windsor, Connecticut, in 2013. In the indictment, Carman is accused of, but not charged with that killing.

Carman's lawyers argue in a court paperwork filed Thursday that their client was never charged, convicted or held civilly responsible for Chakalos' death, but that the indictment “includes matter-offact assertions of uncharged and unadjudicated criminal conduct." They say Carman is entitled to know what the government presented to the grand jury regarding Chakalos' death because if it was “inaccurate or untrue," then Carman may have grounds to get the indictment dismissed.

Federal prosecutors have until next Monday, Feb. 6, to respond. A court hearing on the matter was scheduled for Thursday but was cancelled, a clerk said.

In September 2016, Carman arranged a fishing trip with his mother, during which prosecutors say he planned to kill her and report that his boat sank and his mother disappeared in the accident.

Rathke reported from Marshfield, Vermont.