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99.9 percent probability Test says Carruth is baby's father
Posted: Thursday December 30, 1999 05:07 PM
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Rae Carruth's assets were frozen Thursday after it was determined the former Carolina Panthers player is the father of his slain girlfriend's child. Judge Yvonne Mims Evans released the results of DNA tests that showed there was a 99.9 percent probability Carruth is the father of Chancellor Lee Adams. Evans said Carruth's assets would be frozen with the exception of $35,000 he can use to help pay for his lawyers. Carruth and four other men are being held without bail on first-degree murder and related charges in the slaying of Cherica Adams. Carruth was wearing an orange Mecklenburg County jail jumpsuit and was handcuffed when deputies escorted him into the courtroom. He did not speak during the brief hearing. Defense lawyer Kenneth Spaulding said he and his client were satisfied with the judge's order, which was worked out before the hearing by the lawyers. "He wants to do as much as he has been doing and be supportive in this matter," Spaulding told the judge, who scheduled a child support hearing for next month. During a custody hearing last week, Spaulding told Evans that Carruth went to birthing classes with Adams and helped her during her pregnancy. Carruth was at the hospital the night Adams was shot and the baby was born, Spaulding said. The baby, 10 weeks short of full term when he was delivered after his mother's Nov. 16 shooting, was in fair condition Thursday at Carolinas Medical Center. His mother died Dec. 14. Saundra Adams, the mother of Cherica Adams, has been awarded temporary custody of her grandchild and is seeking permanent custody. Jay Ferguson, a lawyer for the Adams family, declined to say what kind of financial support, if any, Carruth is giving to the child. "We're just certainly hopeful that one way or another, Chancellor receives support from his father," Ferguson said. While prosecutors haven't said why they think Adams was killed, Saundra Adams said Carruth initially wanted Cherica Adams to have an abortion when he learned she was pregnant. Prosecutors said Carruth instigated a murder plot. They plan to seek the death penalty. Carruth, 25, the Panthers' first-round draft choice in 1997, earned 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.
Also charged with first-degree murder are William Watkins, 44; Michael Kennedy, 24; and Stanley Abraham Jr., 19.
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