Former Panthers receiver Rae Carruth will be released from prison on Oct. 22, less than 18 years after he was convicted for conspiracy to commit murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle and using an instrument to destroy an unborn child.
Carruth's ex-girlfriend Cherica Adams – who was seven months pregnant with Carruth's son – was shot while driving her BMW in Charlotte on Nov. 16, 1999. The shooter was hired by Carruth.
The third-year wide receiver was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder, among other charges. When Adams died in Dec. 1999, one month after the shooting, Carruth was also charged with first-degree murder but was found not guilty.
Their son, Chancellor Lee Adams, will turn 19 in November.
Carruth spoke to WBTV in Charlotte in February, expressing his desire to form a relationship with Chancellor. The former wide receiver said he wishes to have custody of his son, who has been raised by his maternal grandmother, Saundra Adams, since birth.
“I should be raising my son," Carruth told WBTV via phone. "Ms. Adams should not be doing this and I want that responsibility back.”
In response to Carruth's interview, Saundra Adams told the Charlotte Observer, "I can say definitively [Carruth's] not ever going to have custody of Chancellor."
"Chancellor will be raised either by me or, after I’m gone, by someone else who loves him and who knows him," Adams continued. "He will never be raised by a stranger – someone he doesn’t know and who tried to kill him.”
