Jury Reads Notes that Put Carruth at Scene

C H A R L O T T E, N.C., Nov. 21, 2000 -- As she lay dying in the hospital fromgunshot wounds, the girlfriend of Rae Carruth scribbled notes thatput the former NFL receiver at the scene of the shooting.

Jurors were given the hard-to-read notes today, a day afterCarruth went on trial on murder charges. He is accused ofmasterminding the drive-by shooting death of Cherica Adams inNovember 1999.

Nurse Tracy Willard treated Adams after the shooting. She saidtoday she asked Adams about the shooting after hospital stafferswere told police considered Carruth a suspect.

Last Written Words

Willard, an intensive care nurse, said that as she started hermorning shift she heard about Carruth from another nurse.

Defense attorney David Rudolf asked Willard whether hospitalstaffers are informed of suspects in shootings to protectthemselves in case a gunman walks in “to finish the job.”

“Yes,” Willard said.

Willard testified previously that Adams, unable to talk becauseof the breathing tube in her mouth, motioned for a pen. Willardsaid she gave her one and held out paper, on which Adams wrote.

“He was driving in front of me and stopped in the road and acar pulled up beside me and he blocked the front and never cameback,” Willard read.

Assistant prosecutor David Graham asked Willard is she askedAdams who “he” was.

“Yes,” Willard said. “She wrote ‘Rae.’”

The note was consistent with statements Adams made in a 911 callfrom her cell phone immediately after the shooting.

The final eight minutes of the 12-minute recording were filledwith sounds of Adams moaning in pain, complaining she was cold.Carruth covered his face with his hands several times as therecording played.

The notes received by the jurors seemed to jump from idea toidea, mentioning a kitchen and the names of fellow CarolinaPanthers player Hannibal Navies and his date. The couple ran intoCarruth and Adams at a movie theater on the night of the shooting,prosecutors said.

Willard said today she showed the note naming Carruth toAdams’ brother and cousin, who then relayed that information toAdams’ father. The family then also began asking Adams aboutCarruth’s involvement, Willard said.

Defense attorney Rudolf asked Willard about the sedativesAdams was given during surgery for her wounds and in the recoveryroom. Adams was receiving morphine and other drugs intravenously atthe time Willard met the woman following surgery, the nurse said.

Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the 26-year-oldplayer. His 24-year-old girlfriend was eight months’ pregnant withhis child. The boy was delivered by emergency Caesarean section andsurvived. Adams died a month later.

Prosecutor Gentry Caudill told the jury Monday that Carruthwanted Adams killed because she wouldn’t have an abortion.

“She was adamant in her refusal,” Caudill said. “She wantedto have that baby.”

Rudolf blamed the shooting on a friend of Carruth’s who wasangry because Carruth would not provide money to buy marijuana.Rudolf said Carruth had nothing to do with the shooting.

Rudolf said Van Brett Watkins, who has confessed to the shootingand agreed to testify against Carruth, was angry because Carruthreneged on a promise to finance a drug deal.

Testimony in earlier hearings indicated Watkins, 40, told ajailer he shot Adams because he was mad at Carruth and becauseAdams made an obscene gesture at him from her car.

Rudolf said the shooting “had absolutely nothing to do with thefact that she was pregnant.”

Two other men are also charged with murder: Michael EugeneKennedy, 25, accused of driving the car from which the shots werefired, and Stanley Drew “Boss” Abraham, a passenger in the car.They will be tried separately.

Jurors also heard Monday from Nicole Michaels, a paramedic whowas the first to reach Adams. Michaels recalled that a policeofficer asked the victim if she knew who shot her.

Adams answered, “Rae, my baby’s daddy,” Michaels said.

Rudolf presented Michaels with the police officer’s report thathad no mention of him asking Adams “Who did this?” Instead, theofficer said he asked Adams who was driving the car in front ofher.

“Was it possible that the answers ‘My baby’s daddy’ and ‘Rae’ wereanswers to a different question?” Rudolf asked Michaels.

“It’s possible,” she said.