Esteban Carpio told his girlfriend about two weeks before he killed a Providence police officer that "someone did voodoo on him and he was scared."

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, June 20, 2006

BY EDWARD FITZPATRICK
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- His mother said he talked about how the devil was going to get him. His girlfriend said he talked to his hand. And a psychiatrist said he had a form of psychosis.

Esteban Carpio's lawyers launched an insanity defense yesterday, calling witnesses to support their argument that he can't be held legally responsible for shooting to death Detective Sgt. James L. Allen and stabbing 84-year-old Madeline Gatta on April 16, 2005.

Prosecutors countered by raising questions about whether Carpio had used drugs before the shooting and whether he had exaggerated or faked mental problems afterward.

Carpio's mother, Yvonne, took the stand in Superior Court yesterday morning, saying she received a call on April 2, 2005 -- two weeks before the shooting -- asking her to pick up Carpio because he'd been acting oddly. Yvonne Carpio, 50, a teacher in Boston public schools, said she met her son and his girlfriend, Samein "Soul" Phin, in Pawtucket, and Carpio drove back to Boston with her.

Carpio's lead lawyer, Robert L. Sheketoff, asked Yvonne Carpio what her son said during the ride. "I heard him say the devil was trying to get him, that he was cursed," she replied. "He said 'What?' a couple of times when no one was speaking to him."

When they got to Boston, Carpio began walking around the apartment and breathing heavily, his mother said. She said he started yelling vulgarities and then said, "Ma, I'm not talking to you. I'm trying to keep the devil away."

Yvonne Carpio said she called 911 and her son was taken to Faulkner Hospital in Boston. She said he was sent home about four hours later with five Ambien pills to help him sleep, and the next day he returned to Rhode Island.

Yvonne Carpio said she saw her son about a week later, and he had a string tied around his waist that was supposed to ward off evil spirits and the devil. She said that was last time she saw him before his arrest.

During cross-examination, Assistant Attorney General Paul F. Daly Jr. asked Yvonne Carpio if she had asked her son if he used drugs on April 2, 2005. She said she had asked but he hadn't answered.

Also, Yvonne Carpio said her son was with a woman named Kimberly Hogan that morning and with Phin that night. She said Phin was the mother of his daughter and Hogan was pregnant with his son at the time.

Phin later testified that she and Hogan were friends, and after she left Carpio, he lived with Hogan. She disputed the idea that Hogan had been pregnant with Carpio's son, saying another man was the father.

Phin, 24, of Providence, said Carpio was acting strangely on the day he was taken to the hospital in Boston. "He was talking to his hand," she said. "He was using vulgar language to the point I took offense."

And two days later, Carpio began acting strangely again, Phin said. "He was holding my hand, talking nonsense, saying the same thing over and over, saying someone did voodoo on him and he was scared," she said.

Phin said she tricked Carpio into going to Rhode Island Hospital at about 2 a.m. She said that at the hospital "he was talking to his hand, and he reached into his boxers and he pulled out his penis and was talking to it, like there was nobody looking."

Carpio received a CAT scan and was sent to the Providence Center, which helps people with psychiatric illnesses, emotional problems and addictions. She said Carpio never returned for another appointment.

Soon afterward, Carpio and Phin joined three others on a trip to Atlantic City, N.J., and at one point he locked her in the bathroom of their hotel room, she said.

After returning to Rhode Island, Carpio stayed with Phin until the day he shot Allen, she said. Shortly before then, she found a knife near their bed. She said Carpio explained that he needed the knife to protect her. She said he didn't sleep much and would be "up in the dark, just sitting there."

On the day of the shooting, Phin said she had an interview for a job with an escort service called Florida Flirts, and Carpio accompanied her to the interview at a Silver Spring Street restaurant. During the interview, he came into the restaurant, looking lost, and when it was over, he was gone, she said.

Phin said she later met Carpio at a Manton Avenue flea market and they looked for sunglasses. She said they went home, ate Chinese food and took a nap.

At about 8 p.m., Phin said her father called to say the police had come by his house in Providence looking for her. She said she ended up talking to two detectives outside her house and initially lied, saying Carpio was not inside. But then the detectives told her about the stabbing, she talked to Carpio on the phone, and the police took him to the station, she said.

Phin said she warned detectives, including Allen, that Carpio had been acting strangely. "I said he hadn't slept in a couple of days, I think he's going through a nervous breakdown. He isn't in his right state of mind," she said.

During cross-examination, Daly asked Phin about working as an escort and as a "streetwalker." She explained that an escort is "hired for their time and companionship."

"Anything else besides companionship?" Daly asked.

"Anything else is between two consenting adults," Phin replied. "I get paid for my time."

When Daly asked about her "high-risk lifestyle," Phin asked, "What does this got to do with this case?"

A psychiatrist, Dr. Stephen Heisel, told jurors Carpio suffered from a form of psychosis. Heisel agreed with Sheketoff that when he killed Allen, Carpio "lacked the capacity to conform his behavior to the law" because he had a "major mental illness."

Heisel, who estimated he'd met 6,000 psychotic people during his 30-year career, said he interviewed Carpio in July 2005 and January 2006 and both times Carpio was concerned about being under a spell. He said Carpio had hallucinations and was delusional.

Heisel said Carpio thought he was under a curse that his father had experienced years ago, and he described an angel and a devil pulling him in different directions.

Daly called the devil/angel concept "a cultural belief widely shared by a segment of the population." And he grilled Heisel about whether Carpio had faked or exaggerated symptoms. Heisel agreed it was possible but said psychotic people can also be manipulative.

The defense is expected to present its final witnesses today.

efitzpat@projo.com / (401) 277-7368