A 71-year-old man accused of fatally shooting his wife more than 30 years ago in Morrisville died last week.
Carroll Peters, of Hyde Park, was indicted by a grand jury in September on a charge of first-degree murder, and had been released from prison on $200,000 bail while the case was pending. Police say Peters shot and killed his wife Cheryl Peters in 1993.
Peters died early Thursday morning from respiratory failure due to pneumonia, according to his death certificate.
Cases are usually dismissed when a defendant dies, which can lead to the charges being sealed or expunged from a person鈥檚 record.
But Lamoille County State鈥檚 Attorney Aliena Gerhard said she plans to file a motion to prevent the murder charge from being removed from Peters鈥� record.
鈥淲e are disappointed we will not be able to bring this homicide to trial, but we hope that the indictment brought at least some measure of solace to Cheryl Peters鈥� family,鈥� said Gerhard in a written statement. 鈥淭hey waited thirty years for justice for the brutal killing of their mother.鈥�
Judges have opted not to seal charges in similar situations, , when an 80-year-old defendant in a decades-old sexual assault case died before going to trial. The judge in that case ruled that it was in the 鈥渋nterest of justice鈥� to keep the records open.
Peters faced investigations over the years for his alleged role in his wife鈥檚 death. He continued to live and work in the Morrisville area throughout that time.
The first-degree murder charge against him came after Gerhard empanelled a grand jury, a process rarely used in Vermont state courts, to examine the case. In a grand jury, a prosecutor presents evidence to a group of people who then vote on whether there鈥檚 enough evidence to charge someone.
Gerhard told reporters in September that she hadn鈥檛 uncovered new evidence in the case when she brought it to the grand jury.
鈥淲e felt given the age of this case and the severity of this case we wanted the community to speak and we wanted the community to hopefully indict him, which they did,鈥� Gerhard said,
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