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Report: Carruth is father
Posted: Thursday December 30, 1999 08:20 AM
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Paternity tests show former Carolina Panthers player Rae Carruth is the father of the baby his former girlfriend delivered after she was mortally wounded, a newspaper reported. The DNA tests to be introduced Thursday during a custody hearing for the infant show the former Carolina Panthers receiver is the father of Chancellor Lee Adams, the Charlotte Observer reported sources as saying. The newspaper did not name the sources cited for its report. A Carruth lawyer declined to comment. "The appropriate forum for disclosing this information is in court," Kenneth Spaulding said. Carruth and three other men are charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Cherica Adams. She was 6 1/2 months' pregnant when shot four times in her car on Nov. 16. Doctors delivered the baby prematurely, and Adams, 24, died a month later. During a custody hearing last week, Spaulding told Evans that Carruth had gone to birthing classes with Adams and had helped her throughout her pregnancy. Carruth also was at the hospital the night Adams was shot and the baby was born, Spaulding said. Carruth said through his lawyers that he would provide for the child. Lawyers for Adams' family called a news conference Wednesday to announce the DNA results. They later canceled the conference, saying they did so at the request of another lawyer. Establishing Carruth's paternity paves the way for Adams' family to press for child support payments. Lawyers for Adams' family are investigating the former Panthers player's assets. During last week's hearing, Adams' mother, Saundra, was given temporary custody of the baby, who remains at Carolinas Medical Center, his condition steadily improving. Neither Carruth nor his mother sought custody. While prosecutors have not offered a motive in the slaying, statements by Saundra Adams indicate Carruth might not have wanted the baby. Prosecutors say they intend to seek the death penalty. Carruth, 25, drafted by the Panthers out of Colorado in 1997, was paid about $38,000 a game until he was waived by the team earlier this month and suspended indefinitely by the NFL. He is the first active NFL player to be charged with murder.
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