06:19 PM EDT on Thursday, June 8, 2006

By KATE BRAMSON and STEVE PEOPLES
projo.com staff writers

PROVIDENCE – Facing the jury for the first time this morning, Esteban Carpio's lawyer admitted that his client stabbed an elderly woman and shot to death a police detective last year.

The defense concedes that Carprio committed the violent crimes for which he stands accused, defense attorney Robert L. Sheketoff said this morning during opening statements at the high-profile trial.

But, he said, Carpio should not be held responsible for his crime spree because he was legally insane -- or as he put it, "looney toones" -- at the time.

"You'll decide -- is he a faker, is he faking it, or is he in fact psychotic?" Sheketoff asked the jury.

In contrast, the prosecution, in a 45-minute presentation, detailed Carpio's crimes as being the calculated actions of a man who "capitalized on a situation he created."

Journal photo / Andrew Dickerman

Esteban Carpio sits at the defense table, guarded by a security officer, as opening statements are given at his trial. Carpio is accused of killing a Providence police detective who was questioning him in the stabbing of an elderly woman.

While in a third-floor police conference room with two detectives, Assistant Attorney General Paul F. Daly Jr. told the jury, Carpio asked one of them for a glass of water, setting up a situation he knew would leave him alone with Det. Sgt. James Allen.

Carpio then took advantage of that, Daly contended. He closed and locked the door, took Allen’s gun and "murdered him in cold blood.”

Turning away from the jury and pointing at Carpio, who sat in the courtroom behind him, Daly said:

“He killed a public servant. He killed a man who spent his whole adult life serving the public, serving us. He killed our Jimmy Allen. I will ask you to give us justice.”

In its 10-minute statement, the defense acknowledged that the evidence would be overwhelming that Carpio stabbed the 84-year-old Madeline Gatta and shot Allen.

But Sheketoff said it “doesn’t matter” whether Carpio stabbed an 84-year-old woman or a 24-year-old woman or whether Allen was a good detective or not. The lawyer labeled the prosecution’s descriptions of the events as an “appeal” for sympathy.

The issue isn’t whether those events happened or not, said Sheketoff, who is contending his client was legally insane at the time. "Is he a seriously mentally ill person or not? That's the issue,” he said.

Sheketoff spoke about two incidents in the weeks before the shooting, when Carpio’s mother and his girlfriend were each so worried about him that they took him to doctors. Both times, he stressed, doctors determined that Carpio was “psychotic” on those two days.

The courtroom was packed for the opening day of the trial. Among those attending were state Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch and Allen's widow, Marguerite Allen.

Carpio was brought in with his hands cuffed in front of him, wearing a dress shirt and trousers. He was later uncuffed, although security officers were behind him as he sat at the defense table. In some previous court sessions, he had been heavily restrained and appeared by videoconference.

After the arguments, the jury visited the public safety complex on Washington Street, where the shooting occurred in a third-floor office. Carpio later jumped through that office's window, escaping on foot before being caught by law officers a short distance away.

After returning to court this afternoon, the jury heard from the trial's first witness, Gatta, who is now 85 years old.

The small, white-haired, bespectacled woman explained in detail how she was attacked while standing alone in front of her Providence apartment last April.

It wasn't until she got to the hospital that Gatta realized she had been stabbed.

Playing on the insanity defense in his cross examination, Sheketoff highlighted the fact that the attacker -- who he acknowledged is Carpio -- made no attempt to steal Gatta's purse. Nor did he utter a word during the stabbing.

Carpio, 27, faces four charges, including murder, in the death of the 50-year-old Allen and the stabbing of Gatta in April 2005.

His case drew cries of outrage after he was seen in court, battered and bruised, shortly after his arrest. He appeared with a "spit shield" covering much of his face. An investigation later found no evidence of police brutality. However, Carpio's own troublesome behavior while being held in the state prison also lead to him being heavily restrained at other court appearances, some of which were conducted by videoconference.

The trial will continue tomorrow with more prosecution witnesses.