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'Clear and present danger' Court urged to deny Carruth visitation with son
Posted: Wednesday April 26, 2000 10:27 AM
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Former NFL player Rae Carruth poses a danger to his 5-month-old son and shouldn't be allowed visits with the child while he sits in jail awaiting his murder trial, the boy's custodial grandmother said. Carruth's attorneys last week filed court papers asking that he be permitted "limited, safe contact" with his son, Chancellor Lee Adams. The lawyers said Carruth may not stand trial in his former girlfriend's murder case for more than a year, and the baby would be more than a year old by the time he might win acquittal. The boy's mother, Cherica Adams, 24, was shot Nov. 16 while driving in south Charlotte. Doctors delivered the baby by emergency Caesarean section. Adams died a month later. Carruth, 26, has been charged along with three other men with first-degree murder in Adams' death and is being held without bond in the Mecklenburg County jail. All four could face the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutors said Carruth, then a wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers, was upset over Adams' pregnancy and already was making support payments for a child in California. Cherica Adams' mother, Saundra Adams, has temporary custody of the boy. Saundra Adams' attorney, Billie Ellerbe, argued in court papers filed Monday that Carruth's request to visit Chancellor should be denied. Ellerbe noted that in addition to murder, Carruth is charged with using an instrument with the intent to destroy an unborn child. "To let [the] defendant anywhere near the minor child before the charges against him are resolved creates a clear and present danger to the life of the minor child. If these charges are proven to be true, there is no safe environment for the minor child in the presence of the defendant," Ellerbe's motion said. Carruth's request "is no more than a desperate attempt on his part to appear to be human and to avoid death row using the very child he has been charged with trying to destroy," Ellerbe said. Charlotte attorney Bill Diehl, who is representing Carruth in the custody case, said he would wait until a family court hearing Thursday to respond. Ellerbe also is asking Judge Yvonne Mims Evans to take possession of Carruth's house and cars to sell them for child support. Carruth should be held in contempt of court for failing to pay child support for his son and for violating a court order freezing his assets, Saundra Adams contends. Carruth's last child support check for $3,000, dated March 8, was returned for insufficient funds, court documents said. Carruth's accountant, Erika Worthy, said Tuesday that the check bounced because his bank took two mortgage payments without her knowledge. His only checking account holds less than $200, Worthy said. Ellerbe's motion said Carruth's attorneys maintained that a frozen bank account had enough money to cover the child support payments. The return of the March check, the motion said, "indicates that those funds have obviously been spent elsewhere." That means the previous court order freezing Carruth's accounts has been violated, the motion said. Ellerbe sought a May 16 hearing to resolve the contempt issue. Carruth's mother, Theodry, said she and Carruth's father have sent checks to cover the March child support payment. "If Chancellor is causing a hardship on Saundra, I'm more than willing to take care of my grandson without child support," she said.
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