Carruth Murder Trial Begins

Monday, November 20th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) â€” Former NFL player Rae Carruth wanted his pregnant girlfriend to have an abortion but she refused before she was killed by a Carruth accomplice, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.

``He wanted her to have an abortion but she was adamant in her refusal. She wanted to have that baby,'' said Assistant District Attorney Gentry Caudill.

Carruth, 26, a former wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers, is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly hiring someone to shoot 24-year-old Cherica Adams on Nov. 16, 1999. She was eight months pregnant with his child when she was shot.

Adams' baby son was delivered by emergency Caesarean section and survived. Adams died a month later.

The prosecutor, who is seeking the death penalty, told jurors that Carruth and his accomplices laid a trap and Carruth helped close it by blocking her so another man could pull alongside and shoot her.

``When the shooting stops, football hero Rae Carruth drove away and left Cherica Adams and his own son for dead,'' Caudill said.

The defense opening statement was scheduled after the prosecution. Carruth's attorney has said his client had no violent intentions and didn't have any previous bad relations with girlfriends.

Opening statements, which precede actual presentation of evidence at the trial, came after a month of jury selection.

In a Court TV interview before the statements got under way, Carruth's mother proclaimed his innocence.

``If my son had done this, I would be in front of this camera saying he deserves to be punished but don't kill him,'' Theodry Carruth said. ``But my son didn't do this. He is innocent.''

Carruth's mother also said the child, Chancellor, had a birthday party over the weekend, but his father wasn't involved because he is in jail.

Carruth's jury has seven white men, two white women and three black women. One black man is among the four alternate jurors.

During jury selection, lawyers for Carruth, who is black, made race an issue as prosecutors repeatedly dismissed blacks from the jury. Superior Court Judge Charles Lamm ruled that the dismissals were based on opposition for capital punishment and other factors other than race.

A key prosecution witness will be the man who admitted pulling the trigger, Van Brett Watkins, 40, who pleaded guilty to murder. Defense lawyers have contended that his mental state is questionable because of anti-psychotic drugs he has taken.

Watkins has said Carruth hired him to kill Adams, then later told a jailer that he shot Adams only because she made an obscene gesture to him.

Two other men are also charged with murder: Michael Eugene Kennedy, 25, accused of driving the car from which the shots were fired; and Stanley Drew ``Boss'' Abraham, a passenger in the car. They will be tried separately.

While she lingered in the hospital, Adams made statements and wrote notes. Jurors will be able to see those notes, which the defense wanted to exclude.