Montgomery County Police Department Henry G. Hutchins of Silver Spring was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Carol Frances Carter.

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This story was corrected on Jan. 31. An explanation follows the story.

A man who told police he killed his wife was advised to consult a lawyer after trying to talk to a judge Monday in Montgomery County District Court.

Henry Gordon Hutchins, 68, was trying to speak to Judge Stephen Johnson during a hearing when a representative from the Montgomery County Office of the Public Defender advised him to remain quiet and allow her office time to contact him.

“I want to waive my right,” Hutchins said after the judge set his preliminary hearing for Feb. 24. It was not clear what right Hutchins was referring to or what he wanted to tell the judge.

Hutchins had yet to speak to defense attorneys and no attorney was assigned to his case as of Monday.

“Please cooperate with the public defender’s office,” Johnson told Hutchins after ordering him held without bond. “They have your best interests at heart.”

According to charging documents filed in district court, Hutchins, of the 11400 block of July Drive in Silver Spring, came home Saturday to find his wife, 62-year-old Carol Frances Carter, in bed with a plastic bag over her head. Hutchins removed the bag and saw that his wife was still breathing, the documents state. Hutchins then got a knife from the kitchen, said Montgomery County Assistant State’s Attorney Patrick Mays.

“In his own words he says he stabbed her in the heart,” Mays told Johnson at Monday’s hearing.

Hutchins called his daughter just before 1 p.m. and told her to take care of his dog, which was at another house, according to the charging documents. He called his daughter at 2:34 p.m. and told her that Carter was dead, the documents state.

Hutchins called the police at 2:49 p.m. and, when officers arrived, directed them to Carter’s body and told them he stabbed her, the documents state.

Mays said in court that Hutchins appears to have waited at least three hours after the killing to call police and may have considered fleeing.

Montgomery County police spokesman Capt. Paul Starks said officers found a bag with personal belongings at the apartment.

“Investigators believe he may have been packing a bag with the intention of fleeing instead of calling the police,” Starks said.

The state medical examiner’s office in Baltimore has not determined the cause or manner of Carter’s death, but officers did find Carter with “trauma” to her upper body, Starks said. A knife was found at the scene, charging documents state.

According to online court records, Hutchins was charged with first- and second-degree attempted murder in Anne Arundel County in 2010. These charges were later dropped, said Anne Arundel County police spokesman Justin Mulcahy.

“Through further investigation, it was learned that the incident was actually a suicide attempt by both parties involved,” Mulcahy wrote in an email response to The Gazette’s questions Tuesday. “After consultation with the state's attorney's office, charges were then dropped. The department and hospital followed up to provide the assistance to the victims for necessary treatment."

According to an Anne Arundel County police press release, Hutchins and Carter were involved in a serious single-vehicle crash at Brockbridge Road and Guilford Road in Jessup just before 4:40 p.m. on Aug. 29, 2010. Hutchins told police that he drove his Jeep off Brockbridge Road and directly into a storage area where trash trailers were kept in an attempt to kill himself and Carter, identified as his longtime companion, according to the release. The pair were both seriously hurt in the crash.

Neither Starks nor Mays would comment on the 2010 case.

jarias@gazette.net

Correction: In the original story Montgomery County Assistant State’s Attorney Patrick Mays’ name was incorrectly spelled.