Trenton woman accused of slaying ex-boyfriend rejects plea deal

Charlotte Carman

Charlotte Carman

A woman accused of fatally stabbing her ex-boyfriend intends to go to trial on a self-defense claim rather than accept a plea deal that would have put her in prison for 30 years.

Charlotte Carman could possibly serve 63 years behind bars if convicted on murder charges. The 39-year old Trenton woman is accused of killing Paris France Way, 33, on May 31, 2015, near the intersection of Sherman and St. Joe’s avenues in Trenton.

Police arrested Carman on June 12, 2015, and she remains incarcerated in the Mercer County Correction Center on $400,000 cash bail as she awaits trial.

At a pre-trial conference on Tuesday, Assistant Prosecutor Stacey Geurds said Carman was waiting by the victim’s home in stalker fashion, waiting for the victim to return home on the date of the slaying.

Carman eventually saw Way and a neighbor and then approached her former beau when he was alone on the street. “He reacted by saying, ‘What are you doing? Why are you stalking me?’” Geurds said, alleging that Carman “took a knife from her person and ended up stabbing him in the lung.”

As the victim was dying in the street from his injuries, Carman allegedly stabbed each of the victim’s four car tires, which was caught on surveillance video, Geurds said.

A female witness saw the victim screaming for help and will testify as an eyewitness when the case goes to trial, Geurds said.

In the two weeks between the murder and Carman’s arrest, Geurds said Carman used the victim’s money to get a tattoo depicting the victim’s date of birth. The assistant prosecutor also said that Carman “admits she spit on the victim while he was dying.”

Carman is being represented by public defender Joseph E. Krakora, who unsuccessfully negotiated a plea agreement calling for his client to receive 12 years in state prison.

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