CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 5 -- A former girlfriend testified Friday that Rae Carruth threatened to have her killed if she did not have an abortion after she became pregnant with his child.
Amber Turner testified as prosecutors presented rebuttal witnesses in the first-degree murder trial of the former Carolina Panthers pro football player, who could be sentenced to death if he is convicted of arranging the November 1999 shooting death of Cherica Adams, who was eight months pregnant with Carruth's child.
Turner said she ended her pregnancy in an abortion after Carruth threatened her and said: "I'm not going to have another kid with someone I'm not going to be with and I'm not going to be with you."
"I already told you I don't want kids with you," Turner said Carruth told her. "Don't make me send somebody out there to kill you. You know I'll do it."
Turner told the jury that she began dating Carruth in late 1996, while she was a 17-year-old high school student, them moved in with him in 1997. She said Carruth gave her $15,000 and a car after he became a first-round NFL draft pick.
Turner said Carruth repeatedly complained about paying child support for a son he had fathered out of wedlock in California. Then, when she told Carruth that she was pregnant by him, his first response was: "You better be joking."
During cross-examination, Carruth's attorney, David Rudolf, told jurors that Turner had described Carruth to a psychologist as a caring person who "doesn't raise his voice, tries to work things out by talking."
