The city woman who killed her ex-boyfriend in a May 2015 East Trenton stabbing attack has received 17 years of state imprisonment.
Charlotte Carman, 40, was originally charged with first-degree murder for fatally plunging a knife into the lung of 33-year-old Paris France Way but pleaded guilty earlier this year to a downgraded charge of aggravated manslaughter.
Charlotte Carman (left) and Paris France Way
Four of Way’s loved ones, including his mother and two sons, cried on the courtroom podium Friday afternoon as they spoke at Carman’s sentencing hearing about the pain of their loss.
“It’s so hard. I miss my son so much,” Robin Porter said, noting Paris Way was her first-born and that she had introduced him to Carman. “I don’t know why she took my son’s life.”
“I wish my dad was still here,” said 16-year-old Nazir Way. “I loved my dad so much. I think about him all the time.”
Paris Tyson, 16, said the violent death of his father has ripped the family apart, adding, “He wanted to do so much with us, but now he can’t because he’s not here anymore.”
Longtime friend Nikiya Jacobs, who began dating Paris Way several weeks before his death, also spoke at Friday’s sentencing. “I miss him every day,” she said. “We need peace. We need comfort. We need closure.”
Carman took Paris France Way’s life on May 31, 2015, launching a fatal knife attack after stalking him near the intersection of Sherman Avenue and St. Joe’s Avenue. Police arrested Carman about two weeks after the slaying.
“Jealousy and rage fueled this homicide,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Stacey Geurds said, requesting the court to hit Carman with at least 20 years of incarceration.
Geurds recalled the facts in the case, reminding the court that Carman “viciously stabbed the victim” and left him to die in the street. Carman also spit on the victim as he was dying, stole his cash and other personal belongings and slashed the four tires to Nikiya Jacobs’ vehicle before fleeing, Geurds said.
“This defendant all along has never showed remorse,” Geurds added. She also mentioned that Carman got a tattoo in the days following the homicide, using the victim’s money to pay for it. The tattoo depicted the victim’s date of birth.
“This case did involve provocation,” Carman’s defense attorney Joseph Krakora said Friday, urging the court to impose a 15-year prison sentence, which he described as “a substantial punishment.”
“Had this case gone to trial, Ms. Carman would have pleaded self-defense,” the public defender said, adding his client over the last two years has “expressed how sorry she is.”
Carman sported an orange Mercer County Correction Center inmate jumpsuit and did not speak at her sentencing hearing on Friday. She sat quietly and did not appear to be emotional one way or another.
Within the statutory range, Mercer County Superior Court Judge Thomas Brown could have sentenced Carman to as low as 10 years of incarceration or as much as 30 years behind bars for aggravated manslaughter.
Carman was a jilted ex-girlfriend jealous of Paris Way being with another woman. Judge Brown took that into account but also said the fact that Carman mailed a post-homicide letter to Paris Way’s family “gives credence to the fact that she is somewhat remorseful.”
Brown sentenced Carman to 17 years of incarceration to be followed by five years of parole supervision. She must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence and is barred from having any contact with the victim’s family. She also has been ordered to pay about $600 in restitution for the damage she caused to Nikiya Jacobs’ vehicle.
Carman, who has been incarcerated at the county jail since June 14, 2015, has been awarded with 854 days of jail credit, meaning she will be eligible for parole in about 12 years.
The victim’s mother was not satisfied with the punishment.
“She should have gotten life,” Robin Porter said of Carman. “Seventeen years ain’t nothing. She had no remorse at all.”