Murder. It is a nasty word. To take a life is one of the worst possible crimes one can commit. Nonetheless, people still do it. The Rae Carruth murder trial was one of the most highly publicized cases in 1999. Puzzling and complicated, it attracted to the public audience for various reasons. On November 15, an ex-football star killed his beautiful pregnant girlfriend. Miraculously the child did not die but was in critical condition. Rae escaped the death penalty and was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years and 11 months in prison. The Charlotte Observer reported that Rae showed no emotion. Rae Carruth, born on January 20, 1974, was a speedy wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers. Before the entering the NFL, Rae was raised in the sunny state …show more content…
The state also charged Rae’s friends with crimes related to the murder. Rae was tried alone before a death-qualified jury. The trial continued over six weeks and went for more than twenty-five trial days. The state offered Rae over twenty witnesses’ testimonies. The defense tried to say that Chirca was shot because of Rae’s coconspirators' rage when he refused to finance a drug deal. The defense had witnesses who testified that Rae had good character and that he was looking forward to the birth of his child. However the State got the testimony of Rae’s former girlfriend. Like said earlier (page 1), she testified as to Rae’s anger when she became pregnant with his child, his unwillingness to pay child support, and his threats of violence. The jury charged Rae with first-degree murder but finding him guilty of discharge of a firearm into occupied property, conspiracy to commit murder, and use of an instrument to destroy an unborn child. The court sentenced Rae to 245 months in prison for the conspiracy conviction. In addition to that he also got 31 to 47 months for the remaining two