The prosecution of a man accused of slashing to death a Bennington woman is resuming now that the court has determined he should be released from a psychiatric hospital and returned to jail.
Darren Pronto, a Pownal man charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Emily Hamann in 2021, will be discharged Monday from the care of the Vermont Department of Mental Health, Bennington Superior Court Judge Kerry McDonald-Cady said on Thursday. Pronto will immediately be transferred to the state Department of Corrections, where he’ll again be held without the option to post bail.
His case is expected to pick up where it left off in December, when the judge ordered that the 34-year-old defendant be placed at the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital after two mental health evaluations found him not competent to stand trial. The court found him to be suffering from a “major mental illness.”
McDonald-Cady said the upcoming proceedings would determine whether Pronto’s mental competency remains a concern, or if the parties can begin preparing for trial.
“Those are much bigger questions now” that the case is back in criminal court, she said in a hearing Thursday. Pronto, who appeared clean-shaven and donning a cap, participated remotely from the state psychiatric hospital.
The order to move Pronto back to a state correctional facility — it has not yet been disclosed which one — came after the Department of Mental Health notified the court last week that it would be discharging him.
Missy McGibney, Pronto’s case worker at the psychiatric hospital, explained on Thursday that he no longer needs acute mental health treatment. As examples, she said he takes his required medication, participates in group sessions, completes his daily tasks, can calm himself down in instances when the facility can become very loud and hasn’t displayed any aggressive behavior for some time.
“I don’t foresee any problems with Mr. Pronto returning to corrections as long as he stays on his medications,” said McGibney, who is director of social services at the hospital.
Alexandra Nerenberg, the mental health department’s director of care management, also testified that, to ensure a smooth transition in Pronto’s care, her department has been coordinating with the Department of Corrections.
“They feel confident that they could continue to meet his needs,” Nerenberg said.
The results of Pronto’s two mental health evaluations are not accessible to the public, but a police report in the January 2021 murder case cites Pronto’s sister as saying he’d been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
He is accused of fatally slashing Hamann, 26, while she was walking along the Riverwalk in downtown Bennington one morning. Police said Pronto jumped her and cut her throat after lying in wait. First-degree murder carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Hamann’s mother, Kelly Carroll, regards Pronto’s return to jail as a positive development but noted that this doesn’t ensure he will be put on trial. She believes the issue of his mental competency could be reopened.
“I was just kind of trying to deal with the reality that this could go on for decades,” Carroll said in an interview Friday, adding that she would strongly oppose any move to transfer him into a community-based program.
“The one thing I promise is that as long as I have breath, I will continue to advocate that he stays in a secure facility,” she said, “whether it’s a hospital, whether it’s a forensic facility or jail.”
Pronto had previously been hospitalized after being criminally charged, then released into the community without the knowledge of public safety officials.
That led Carroll to advocate for Act 57, which became law in 2021 and created a notification system to alert prosecutors before such an incident occurs.
Attorneys in Pronto’s case are expected to return to court within 30 days to discuss the next steps.
Bennington County Deputy State’s Attorney Jared Bianchi said anyone can raise the issue of competency at any time as long as there’s a good-faith basis to do so.
Pronto is represented in court by the Office of the Defender General.