CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jurors read on Tuesday from notes scribbled by Rae Carruth's pregnant girlfriend after she was shot that put the former NFL receiver at the scene of the crime.
Carruth went on trial on murder charges on Monday. He is accused of masterminding the drive-by shooting death of Cherica Adams in November 1999.
Before court recessed Monday, a nurse who treated Adams the morning after the shooting read notes implicating Carruth in the shooting.
Tracy Willard said Adams, unable to talk because of the breathing tube in her mouth, motioned for a pen. Willard said she gave her one and held out paper, which Adams wrote on.
"He was driving in front of me and stopped in the road and a car pulled up beside me and he blocked the front and never came back," Willard read.
Assistant prosecutor David Graham asked Willard if she asked Adams who "he" was.
"Yes," Willard said. "She wrote 'Rae."'
The note was consistent with statements Adams made in a 911 call from her cell phone immediately after the shooting.
The final eight minutes of the 12-minute recording were filled with sounds of Adams moaning in pain, complaining she was cold. Carruth covered his face with his hands several times as the recording played.
Jurors were given copies of the hard-to-read notes Tuesday. The notes seemed to jump from idea to idea, mentioning a kitchen and the names of fellow Carolina Panthers player Hannibal Navies and his date. The couple ran into Carruth and Adams at a movie theater on the night of the shooting, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the 26-year-old player. His 24-year-old girlfriend was eight months' pregnant with his child. The boy was delivered by emergency Caesarean section and survived. Adams died a month later.
Prosecutor Gentry Caudill told the jury Monday that Carruth wanted Adams killed because she wouldn't have an abortion.
"She was adamant in her refusal," Caudill said. "She wanted to have that baby."
Defense attorney David Rudolf blamed the shooting on a friend of Carruth's.