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Carruth wants to visit infant son
Posted: Wednesday April 19, 2000 09:32 AM
CHARLOTTE (AP) -- Former NFL player Rae Carruth, jailed while he awaits trial for the shooting death of his girlfriend, wants to visit with his infant son. Carruth's attorneys, Bill Diehl and Katherine Holliday, filed court papers late Monday asking that the former Carolina Panthers player be allowed "limited, safe contact" with 5-month-old Chancellor Lee Adams. The boy's mother, Cherica Adams, 24, was pregnant with the child when she was shot Nov. 16 while driving in south Charlotte. Doctors delivered the baby by emergency Caesarean section, but Adams died a month later. Carruth has been charged along with three other men in the murder, and he is being held without bond at Mecklenburg's Jail Central uptown. Cherica Adams' mother, Saundra Adams, has been granted temporary custody of the boy. Carruth saw the birth of his son, but his lawyers say he has never held the baby. They say Carruth's murder trial "is not likely to occur" within the next year, and the baby would be more than a year old by the time he might win acquittal. "Pending the outcome of the criminal case, this infant has a right to have contact with his father," Diehl and Holliday wrote in their motion. The family of Cherica Adams had no comment about the motion, said attorney Jay Ferguson, who has been acting as spokesman for the family. Carruth's mother, Theodry Carruth, said in an interview Tuesday that she has visited Chancellor, but usually only after a court order. She said Carruth was present at his son's birth but hasn't seen the child since. If Diehl's motion is granted, she said she or other relatives or friends would take the baby to the jail to see Carruth. Meanwhile, Carruth's lawyer in the criminal case has filed papers saying attorney James Exum could still become a witness at the murder trial. Carruth's criminal lawyer, David Rudolf, earlier sought to have Exum, who represents co-defendant Michael Kennedy, disqualified from the case. He said Exum had relayed information from his client to the media and could be called as a witness. Rudolf filed additional court papers Monday saying new, relevant information has surfaced since then. Rudolf said that according to a police report, Carruth's cell phone was turned in to police by Exum. Exum, according to Rudolf, got the phone from Wendy Cole, the woman who drove with Carruth to Tennessee in December. Carruth had jumped bail, but was caught by FBI agents. The numbers on the phone's speed dial 'will be relevant' to the trial, according to Rudolf. Exum, in an interview Tuesday, said he thought the motion stemmed only from "pettiness." He added that he didn't believe the cell phone was the one Carruth used the night of the shooting.
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