Murder Case Dismissed; Carmon Walks Free

Nearly seven months after granting Adam Carmon a new trial for the 1994 murder of baby Danielle Taft, state Superior Court Judge Jon Alander dismissed the case entirely on Tuesday.

“Mr. Carmon,” the judge said, ​“the criminal justice system failed you.”

Carmon found himself back in Courtroom 5A of the 235 Church St. courthouse on Tuesday morning — a little over a year after lawyers argued for his right to a new trial in that very same room, before that very same judge, who now had the power to dismiss the case for good. 

And that’s exactly what Alander did.

Within minutes, Carmon would step out of the courthouse without any need to return for the first time in nearly three decades. 

“Just to walk here,” he said in amazement on Church Street, en route to remove his ankle monitor. ​“Taking a walk on a road of freedom.”

Carmon had spent 28 years in prison after being found guilty of committing a harrowing 14-bullet shooting through a window of 810 Orchard St. That 1994 shooting killed 7‑month old Danielle and paralyzed her grandmother, Charlene Troutman. 

All the while, he professed his innocence. 

Alander vacated Carmon’s conviction in late November, citing both new science and the suppression of numerous pieces of evidence that could have been used in Carmon’s defense. In his decision at the time, ordering a new trial, Alander wrote, ​“How could anyone have confidence in a verdict of guilty in a case such as this?”

On Tuesday morning, New Haven State’s Attorney John Doyle informed Alander that his office re-investigated the 1994 fatal shooting. ​“Despite additional evidence” uncovered by the investigation, ​“the state does not have enough evidence” to retry Adam Carmon for that crime, Doyle said.

At that, Carmon’s lawyers moved for a dismissal of the case.

Shirley Troutman, Danielle’s mother, sat in the back of the courtroom with a t‑shirt commemorating her daughter. She began to sob.

“It’s obviously not surprising” that the state’s investigation did not yield enough evidence, said Alander, who had presided over Carmon’s petition for a new trial last year. 

He praised the advocacy of Carmon’s lead lawyers, David Keenan and Doug Lieb. 

He said that the criminal justice system had not only failed Carmon, it ​“also failed the family of Danielle Taft,” who ​“deserve to know” who killed their seven-month-old child.

Alander turned to Carmon. ​“I cannot return to you the 28 years of life” spent in prison, he said. ​“I can give you the certainty that this long nightmare is finally over.”

“It’s not over for us,” Troutman said, her head in her hands.

A stream of people headed out of the courtroom: Carmon, his lawyers, the state’s attorney, the public, and finally Troutman herself. She walked partway down the hall before keeling over. Held by family members and a victim’s advocate, Troutman let out a long and broken wail.

“It’s just a sad situation all the way around,” whispered Carmon, who stood at the side with his lawyers. 

An hour later, Troutman said over the phone, ​“until they can bring another suspect in front of me and say he was the actual shooter, in my heart, Adam Carmon did it.” She also condemned the ​“rogue cops and bad cops” that suppressed evidence. ​“At this point, I don’t know what to believe,” she said. ​“I just need answers. I need to know what happened.”

She urged anyone with information about the murder to contact prosecutors. ​“If there is someone out there that knows what happened and is afraid to come forward, just come forward please.”

As for Danielle, Troutman said, ​“I know she’s smiling down on me. I miss her so much.”

Carmon, his lawyers, and a number of supporters filed out of the Church Street courthouse after Troutman on Tuesday.

“They’ve given me my life back,” Carmon said. He promised to ​“use it for good.” He said he hopes to help other people who have been wrongfully convicted find justice.

He joined Keenan in a quick TV interview with Channel 8: the case reflected ​“outrageous police and government and prosecutorial misconduct,” Keenan said.

Carmon was joined by Valerie Brown, an old friend who had known him since before his days in prison and who sat through his habeas trial last year. Her relationship with Carmon became a romantic one around that time. After Carmon gets his ankle monitor removed, Brown planned to take him out to eat.

She didn’t have a place picked yet: ​“Whatever he wants to do.”