Rae Carruth Trial: 2000-01

Rae Carruth grew up in Sacramento, California, and played football for the University of Colorado. He was picked by the Carolina Panthers as a wide receiver in the 1997 National Football League draft, and signed a four-year contract for a total of almost three and three-quarter million dollars.

The police investigation immediately focussed on Carruth because of Cherica Adams's 911 call, statements she made to police at the scene, and notes she wrote a few hours after being admitted to the hospital. On Friday, November 19, police arrested Michael Eugene Kennedy, 24, of Charlotte, who was alleged to have rented and driven the car from which the shots were fired. Kennedy had a lengthy arrest record on assault and drug-related charges extending back to 1994. Carruth was arrested on November 25, charged with conspiracy to commit murder, and taken into custody. Also arrested on the same day on the same charge was William Edward (Van Brett) Watkins, 40, of New York. Frequently referred to as a career criminal, Watkins had a long record of violent offenses, and was believed to have fired the shots that hit Cherica Adams. Stanley Drew Abraham, 19, of Charlotte, believed to have been a passenger in the car with Watkins and Kennedy, was arrested on December 2.