One of the most explosive trials in Charlotte, N.C., history began to take shape in the first nine months of 2000. Former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth was going on trial, charged with first-degree murder in the death of Cherica Adams.
In 1999, Adams was Carruth's pregnant girlfriend when she was shot four times on a dark Charlotte road. She managed to save her baby with a courageous 911 call.
The trial's stakes were life and death. If convicted of first-degree murder, Carruth could receive the death penalty. If found not guilty, Carruth, 26, could potentially resume his NFL career.
As the October trial date approached, both the prosecution and the defense needed something.
The prosecution needed at least one of Carruth's co-defendants to lay out the murder-for-hire plot and implicate Carruth.
Lead defense lawyer David Rudolf needed to present a believable theory as to why Carruth _ who didn't pull the trigger _ also didn't plan the murder. He thought he had one in the "drug-deal-gone-bad" alternate theory. And he had another villain in mind, too _ Van Brett Watkins, the confessed triggerman.
James Exum, the lawyer for co-defendant Michael Kennedy, said: "In Watkins, you've got a bad guy, with a history of violent crime. So I can see David wanting to take him and make him the monster, and not Rae."
Watkins knew enough to be able to help either the prosecution or the defense. But he was an unpredictable felon who was liable to say anything on the stand. It wasn't clear if he would testify _ and if he did, for which side.
