ST. ALBANS – The attorney for a Highgate woman charged with murder for allegedly helping her daughter in the slaying of a man has withdrawn a bid to release his client on home detention pending her trial.
David Sleigh said Wednesday that he decided against pursuing his earlier request for home detention for Carmen Guttilla, who did not appear in court, because of a recent a change in the law.
Guttilla, 60, was ordered held without bail May 7 after pleading not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder in the death of 35-year-old Troy Ford.
A new law passed by the Legislature earlier this year and signed by Gov. Phil Scott no longer permits the option of home detention for a defendant being held without bail for an offense that carries a possible life sentence. It went into effect July 1.
A person on home detention is electronically monitored by the state Department of Corrections at their residence while awaiting trial.
Sleigh, speaking ahead of a hearing in the case Wednesday in Franklin County Superior Court, said “there are real questions” as to whether the change in the law would apply to his client since she was arrested, charged and arraigned in May, before the new law went into effect.
However, he said at this point he decided to withdraw the home detention request rather than try to “thread the needle” of the new statute. Instead, Sleigh said, he plans to ask the court to modify Carmen Guttilla’s bail conditions at some point in the future.
Prosecutors had objected to the home detention request, in part, citing the seriousness of the offense.
Erika Gutilla remains barred from contacting her mother in prison following a decision handed down in May.
Guttilla’s home is where prosecutors allege Ford’s killing took place.
According to police affidavits filed in the case, Carmen and her daughter Erika Guttilla had decided that Ford “had to go” because of his allegedly abusive behavior toward Erika and the whole family, which he also allegedly supplied with heroin and crack cocaine.
According to court records, Erika Guttilla told police she shot Ford, her ex-boyfriend, in the face as he slept in the family home in Highgate following a night of drinking.
Prosecutors say Carmen Guttilla later helped her daughter wrap up Ford’s body in a carpet and store his remains in a garbage container on a back porch of the family home for weeks, court records stated.
During the court hearing Wednesday, Franklin County Deputy State’s Attorney Ashley Harriman told Judge Martin A. Maley that she was working to provide Sleigh with additional materials that are part of the investigation into the case.
Harriman added that once that process is complete, the parties can then set a schedule for depositions of witnesses. She asked the judge to schedule another hearing in the case in 30 days for a further update.
Given the difficulty of scheduling cases through the summer due to vacations, Maley suggested setting the next hearing in 60 days.
Sleigh then asked, and the judge agreed, to split the difference and set the next hearing within 45 days since his client is currently incarcerated awaiting the trial in the case.
No trial date has been set.
Both Carmen and Erika Guttilla told police that they discussed killing Ford because he was destroying the family, police affidavits stated.
On the night of the shooting, according to the affidavits, Carmen left a Glock pistol on a dresser before Erika took it into her bedroom and fired it into the head of Ford, who was fast asleep
Erika Guttilla’s current boyfriend, Corey Cassani, 28, is also charged in the case. He has pleaded not guilty to three counts, including obstructing justice, acting as an accessory after the fact, and removal of a dead body.
Cassani, along with Erika and Carmen Guttilla, together moved Ford’s body from the porch to a wooded abandoned playground, leaving it wrapped in a sheet and placing tree branches over it, according to affidavits filed in the case.
The three were arrested shortly after neighbors found the body during a walk in the woods.
Cassani has pleaded not guilty to the offenses against him and is being held on $50,000 bail.
Erika Guttilla has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and obstructing justice. Like her mother, she has also been ordered held without bail.
Both Erika and Carmen Guttilla face life in prison if convicted of the murder charges against them. Cassani faces up to 17 years behind bars.
