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Breaking News

Jury Convicts Carruth of Conspiracy to Commit Murder, Other Charges; Carruth Not Guilty of First-Degree Murder

Aired January 19, 2001 - 3:25 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: We need to move quickly now to Charlotte, North Carolina. There's been a decision in the trial of Rae Carruth, the former Carolina Panthers player accused in involvement in the killing of his former girlfriend. Let's listen.

JUDGE CHARLES LAMM, MECKLENBURG COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT: I marked the wrong box on one of the verdict sheets. Can you give me written instructions how to correct this? Signed by the foreperson. P.S. was "Need conspiracy to commit murder."

I instructed the clerk, and she has prepared a new duplicate original of the conspiracy to commit murder verdict sheet. It was delivered to the jury by Deputy Sheriff Dunbar, the bailiff, and the jurors handed out another note that says: "We have reached a verdict on all four charges."

So if everybody's here and everybody's prepared, I will bring -- just bring the first 12 jurors out at this time.

Would you stand please, sir?

Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict as to each of the four charges?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

LAMM: OK. If you would hand the verdict sheets to the bailiff.

Members of the jury, your foreperson has handed out verdict sheets which read as follows: "We the jury return a unanimous verdict as follows, that the defendant, Rae Lamar Carruth, is guilty of discharging a firearm into occupied property, guilty of using an instrument with intent to destroy an unborn child, guilty of conspiracy to commit murder of Cherica Adams, but not guilty of the first-degree murder of Cherica Adams.

Is that your verdict, so say each of you?

(CROSSTALK)

I am going to ask each of you some individual questions, starting with your foreperson, and then each of the questions can be answered either yes or no. If you do not understand the question, do not hesitate to ask me to repeat it. The forperson -- Mr. Pendle (ph), will you stand please?

The jury has returned as its unanimous verdicts that the defendant is guilty of discharging a firearm into occupied property, guilty of using an instrument with intent to destroy an unborn child, guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, and not guilty of first-degree murder? Were each of these your verdicts, sir?

JURY FOREMAN: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Are they each still your verdicts?

JURY FOREMAN: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Thank you, sir, you may be seated.

Juror No. 1, Ms. Davis (ph). If you would stand, please, program.

Were each of these verdicts, ma'am?

JUROR NO. 1: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Are they still your verdicts?

JUROR NO. 1: Yes.

LAMM: Thank you, ma'am.

Juror No. 2, Ms. Brooks (ph), were these your verdicts, ma'am?

JUROR NO. 2: Yes.

LAMM: Are they each still your verdicts?

JUROR NO. 2: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Thank you, ma'am.

Juror No. 3, Ms. Shipp (ph), were these your verdicts, ma'am?

JUROR NO. 3: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Are they still your verdicts?

JUROR NO. 3: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Thank you, ma'am.

Juror No. 4, Mr. Stewart (ph), were each of these your verdicts, sir?

JUROR NO. 4: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Are they still your verdicts?

JUROR NO. 4: Yes, sir. LAMM: Thank you, sir.

Juror No. 5 was the foreperson, Mr. Pendle, that I've already spoken to. Juror No. 6, Mr. Carst (ph), ere these your verdicts, sir?

JUROR NO. 6: Yes, Your Honor.

LAMM: Are they each still your verdicts?

JUROR NO. 6: Yes, Your Honor.

LAMM: Thank your, thank you, sir.

Juror No. 7, Ms. Childs (ph), were each of these your verdicts, ma'am?

JUROR NO. 7: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Are they still your verdicts?

JUROR NO. 7: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Thank you, ma'am.

Juror No. 8, Mr. Lutes (ph), were each of these your verdicts, sir?

JUROR NO. 8: Yes, sir.

LAMM: And are they still your verdicts?

JUROR NO. 8: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Thank you, sir.

Juror No. 9, Mr. Brown (ph). Were of these your verdicts, sir?

JUROR NO. 9: Yes.

LAMM: And are they still your verdicts?

JUROR NO. 9: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Thank you, sir.

Juror No. 10, Mr. Gomez (ph), were each of these your verdicts, sir?

JUROR NO. 10: Yes, sir.

LAMM: And are they still your verdicts?

JUROR NO. 10: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Thank you, sir.

Juror No. 11, Mr. Spencer (ph), were each of these your verdicts, sir?

JUROR NO. 11: Yes, sir.

LAMM: And are they still your verdicts?

JUROR NO. 11: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Thank you, sir.

And juror No. 12, Ms Barnett (ph), were each of these your verdicts, ma'am?

JUROR NO. 12: Yes, sir.

LAMM: And are they each still your verdicts?

JUROR NO. 12: Yes.

LAMM: Thank you.

Members of the jury, your foreperson has returned as the unanimous verdict of the jury that the defendant, Rae Carruth, is guilty of discharging a firearm into occupied property, guilty of using an instrument with intent to destroy an unborn child, guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, and not guilty of first degree murder. If they were the verdicts of each of you and if they are still the verdicts of each of you, would you indicate so by raising your hand at this time?

Thank you. Let the record show that all 12 jurors raised their hand in response to the court's last question.

Is the defendant ready for a sentencing hearing, or would there be a...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we'd like a little bit of time to sort of address what the issues are now that there's been a verdict and given the nature of the verdict. So it's 3:30. I don't know if Your Honor would be willing to come back on Monday for that purpose, but we'd certainly ask for a little bit of time.

LAMM: That agreeable with the state?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, your honor.

LAMM: Do either of you have anything further that needs to be covered before the jury is released?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir.

LAMM: OK. At this time -- well, if you would bring the other three alternates in. Would the clerk call the verdicts?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your Honor, we'd like to preserve (UNINTELLIGIBLE) our motion to dismiss for Monday as well, if we could. LAMM: Is that -- any objection from the state?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, Your Honor.

LAMM: OK, sir. That's agreeable.

First, let me address the three alternate jurors. The first 12 members of the jury have come back into court, finding unanimous verdicts on each of the four charges finding the defendant guilty on each count with the exception of first-degree murder, which the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty.

That being the case, there will not be a second sentencing phase of the trial before the jury. There will be a sentencing hearing that will be conducted next week by the court, but we will not require a jury for that sentencing hearing, because since the defendant has been found not guilty of first-degree murder.

I'm going to discharge you in a few moments from the case, and you will no longer -- this applies to all of you -- no longer be under any of the rules as to your conduct that I have continued to remind you of throughout this trial. And I have a few matters I need to take care of in here and the clerk has some matters that she needs to take care of you with. So I'm going to ask if all 15 of you would...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I'm sorry to interrupt the court.

LAMM: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can we approach for just a moment?

LAMM: Yes, sir.

CHEN: All right. We want to tell our viewers what they're watching. There are proceedings under way. There has been a verdict in the Rae Carruth murder trial in Charlotte, North Carolina. The verdict as follows: that Rae Carruth is not guilty of first-degree murder but is guilty on charges of conspiracy, of discharging a firearm and of using an instrument with intent to destroy an unborn child.

We've been watching as the court proceedings continue. Rae Carruth, of course, the former Carolina Panthers wide receiver, accused of involvement in the death of his pregnant former girlfriend in November of 1999. Let's listen to what the judge is saying now.

LAMM: Thank you. All of you.

CHEN: Again, we're advising our viewers what you're watching here is live pictures from a courtroom in Charlotte, North Carolina, the verdict given in the trial of Rae Carruth, the former NFL player, former player for the Carolina Panthers, former all-American. The judge is giving the jury final instructions here before dismissing them as they end out the week.

There will be a sentencing phase, but the jury will not be involved with that.

Let's listen to what's going on in the courtroom now.

LAMM: The -- it's no longer a capital case, but -- but I will -- the state did not -- did not want to object and interrupt me when I was talking to the jury. But upon second thought, it wanted to object to the motion to dismiss being not heard until Thursday, since the jury was going to be discharged. There was a brief discussion about that, and the court -- I don't -- the court either said he was going to overrule the state's objection or the state withdrew it. One or the other. I can't even remember which. But anyhow, we'll -- I will entertain that on Monday.

It would probably help me -- I don't know how long a -- and I'm not trying to foreclose anything. But it -- would it be all right to maybe start court at 11 o'clock on Monday? Is that agreeable with everybody?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

LAMM: Since I know you and I and some other people may have some distances to travel, and the weather is not supposed to be the best in the weekend this weekend, at least in the mountains. Would it be appropriate then if we recess at this time until 11 o'clock Monday?

You make take the defendant out. He's in your custody.

CHEN: All right. You're just seeing the proceedings wrap up in Mecklenburg County -- it's Charlotte, North Carolina -- before Judge Charles Lamm. There you see the defendant, Rae Carruth. The verdict against him by the jury on charges of conspiracy, discharging a firearm, and using an instrument to -- with the intent to destroy an unborn child, found guilty on those three counts. But not the most important count perhaps. That would be the first-degree murder of his girlfriend, Cherica Adams, who was shot in November of 1999.

There were more than 17 hours of deliberations over four days: some confusion from the jury room -- some regarding a ballot, some regarding words of a deadlock in the jury earlier in this day. But the jury now returning a verdict, finding Rae Carruth not guilty of the first-degree murder count against him.

Now, we're going to return to "TALKBACK" with Bobbie Battista.

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