HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man imprisoned for the past 28 years for a New Haven shooting that killed a baby and paralyzed her grandmother has been granted a new trial by a judge, who said prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense and city police failed to pursue other suspects — including one who recanted a confession.
Judge Jon Alander ordered the new trial for Adam Carmon on Wednesday. Alander also ruled, however, that Carmon did not prove his claim that he was actually innocent. The judge's decision was first reported by the New Haven Independent.
Carmon, now 50, was convicted of murder and other crimes and sentenced to 85 years in prison for the 1994 shooting that killed 7-month-old Danielle Taft and paralyzed her grandmother, Charlene Troutman, in an apartment. A gunman outside the building fired more than a dozen shots into an apartment window.
The case drew statewide attention to the problem of urban gun violence and was mentioned by former Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. during an address to the state legislature.
Alander wrote in a 51-page ruling that there were numerous problems with the case against Carmon. He said the evidence withheld from the defense, as well as new evidence that emerged, cast doubt on Carmon's convictions.
“How could anyone have confidence in a verdict of guilty in a case such as this?” Alander wrote. “The suppressed evidence and the new forensic evidence places the entire case against the petitioner (Carmon) in such a different light as to undermine confidence in the verdict that the jury reached.”
Carmon's lawyers, Doug Lieb and David Keenan, said they will seek his release from prison as soon as possible as the case heads back to the trial court.
“More than 27 years ago, our client Adam Carmon was wrongly convicted for...
