Testimony Builds Against Carruth in Murder Trial

C H A R L O T T E, N.C., Nov. 21 -- A man who called police to help thefatally wounded girlfriend of Rae Carruth testified today thatshe identified the former NFL player as the man who shot her.

Farrell Blalock was in his home when Cherica Adams was shot anddrove onto his lawn. He called police and came outside when theyarrived.

Testifying on the second day of Carruth’s murder trial, Blalocksaid Adams told officers: “‘I’m pregnant and I’ve been shot.’ Andthe policeman said, ‘Who did it?’ And she said, ‘My husband, I mean, my boyfriend.’

“And I heard her say he was driving a white Ford Expedition.And she said she had been to a movie.”

Defense lawyer David Rudolf tried to get Blalock to say thatAdams could have meant Carruth was driving the Expedition, but heinsisted she identified him as the gunman.

Carruth Could Get Death Penalty

Carruth, 26, who at the time played for the Carolina Panthers,could be executed if convicted of arranging Adams’ November 1999shooting. Adams, 24, died about a month later, after giving birthto their son by Caesarean section.

On Monday, a paramedic also testified she overheard Adamsidentify Carruth as the man who shot her. But undercross-examination by Rudolf, Nicole Michaels said it was possiblethat Adams was identifying the driver of the Expedition.

Traci Willard, an intensive-care nurse who treated Adams andquestioned her about Carruth, testified Monday that Adams describedthe shooting in writing while hospitalized because a breathing tubeprevented her from speaking.

“He was driving in front of me and stopped in the road and acar pulled up beside me and he blocked the front and never cameback,” Willard read from the notes.

Mecklenburg County assistant prosecutor David Graham askedWillard if she asked Adams who “he” was.

“Yes,” Willard said. “She wrote ‘Rae.’”

Jurors were given copies of the hard-to-read notes today, asWillard testified she showed the note naming Carruth to Adams’brother and cousin, who then relayed that information to Adams’father. The family members then also began asking Adams aboutCarruth’s involvement, Willard said.