PROVIDENCE -- The suspect in the fatal shooting of a city detective at
police headquarters was denied bail today after intense testimony from
an officer who described his own frantic, but futile, efforts to help
the victim.
Superior Court Judge William A. Dimitri Jr. rejected the bid by Esteban
Carpio, 27, of Providence, to be released from the Adult Correctional
Institutions in Cranston, where he has been held in the wake of the
murder of Det. Sgt. James L. Allen five months ago.
The motion followed a total of about 3 1/2 hours of testimony, much of
it from Det. Timothy McGann, who recalled the events of the night of
April 17 at the city's public safety complex.
Carpio, who has appeared by videoconference from prison in previous
court procedures due to concerns over his behavior, was also in the
courtroom today, hands shackled at his waist and surrounded by
law-enforcement officers. Unlike early appearances, he wore no facial
covering, except for his own beard and long sideburns.
Under questioning by Assistant Attorney General Paul F. Daly Jr., McGann
described trying to get into the third-floor interview room where Allen
was questioning Carpio about the stabbing of an elderly woman a few
hours earlier.
He had left the room himself shortly before to get Carpio a drink of
water from a nearby kitchen, at Carpio's request. McGann said he'd made
at least two previous trips to get water for Carpio in an effort to make
him feel comfortable before Allen began the formal interview.
In the kitchen, McGann heard the sounds of a struggle from the
conference room and rushed to its door, he said. He was surprised to
find that he couldn't turn the handle and that the door was locked. He
said the door was typically left open and that he didn't even realize
that it could be locked.
McGann said he then heard Allen screaming for help: " 'Timmy, help, he's
going to kill me.' "
He said he swung his shoulder into the door, but it wouldn't move.
McGann then tried kicking it in.
"As I was doing this, I heard a gunshot. I began yelling for Jimmy
-'Jimmy, Jimmy' - there was silence."
Others started arriving at the scene, he said. " Everyone was yelling
for Jimmy, but there was no answer."
At that point, McGann said he drew his gun, expecting someone to come
out of room. But no one did.
Fellow officers then broke open the door with a ramming tool. They went
into the room. Allen was on the floor.
"I looked at him quickly. He was gray. I'm not a medical expert but he
didn't look good," McGann said.
Carpio was not in the room, but the door was open to an adjacent office.
When officers went it in there, they saw that the window had been shot
out.
McGann testified there was lots of confusion. People did not know if
Carpio was still in building. But he figured that he had gone out of the
window, and tried to tell others that.
Police officers frantically checked other rooms for the suspect.
A little later they found Allen's gun outside, on the ground below the
window.
Carpio was arrested soon after on a nearly downtown street, and McGann
said he went to the scene to identify him.
After a late-morning break, defense lawyer Robert Sheketoff questioned
McGann about police records of the incident, asking whether Allen's
interview with Carpio had been taped -- it was not -- what the system
was used to log detectives who came and went and who had written the
police report of the incident.
He also asked whether McGann smelled alcohol or marijuana on Carpio; the
detective said he did not.
After Sheketoff finished his cross-examination, Michael Palumbo, a
correctional officer from the ACI, testified that on August 2 he had
overhead a conversation there in which Carpio apparently implicated
himself in the shooting.
Carpio was confined to a cell for prisoners with psychiatric problems
and was talking to a prisoner in a nearby cell According to Palumbo,
Carpio asked the other inmate, "Do you know who I am? Have you seen the
news?"
"He said he was the guy who killed the cop," Palumbo said.
Palumbo said Carpio told the other inmate about stabbing the "old lady,"
then going home, falling asleep and waking up to find his girlfriend
talking to the police.
The conversation then jumped to Carpio's being interviewed at the police
station. Carpio said Allen "bugged out" when Carpio got out of his chair
to throw away a cup of water. Carpio said, "I grabbed his gun and blazed
him," according to Palumbo.
Carpio said he then "blew out the window" and ran to the right, although
a friend had told him to run left if trying to escape the police.
The hearing ended around 3:30 p.m., after a total of about 3 1/2 hours
of testimony, with Dimitri agreeing with the prosecution's contention
that Carpio represented a flight risk and a danger to the community and
that bail should be denied.
Also in the courtroom today were Allen's wife, Marguerite Allen, and
Carpio's girlfriend and his mother.
At one point in the testimony this morning, Allen's wife looked down and
away. A female officer seated next to her put her arm around her
shoulders.
Carpio is charged with murder and discharging a firearm while committing
a crime of violene, death resulting, for Allen's slaying.
He is also charged with assaulting three corrections officers, and
assault with a dangerous weapon, serious bodily injury resulting, and
assault on a person over the age of 60 in the stabbing of an elderly
woman.
Carpio last month was found competent to stand trial, meaning he is able
to understand the character and consequences of the proceedings against
him, and can properly assist in his own defense.
The competency finding does not preclude a possible insanity defense.
Carpio's family has said that they had tried to get him medical help
before April 17 because he told them he was hearing voices and seeing
visions.
The attorney general's office is seeking a sentence of life imprisonment
without parole if Carpio is convicted -- the strongest sentence possible
in the state.
ARTICLE TOOLS: 
