CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Court TV) —Rae Carruth's lawyer says that anyone who spends 30 minutes with his client would know he's not capable of plotting a murder, but the jury deciding his fate didn't get that chance.

After presenting almost 40 witnesses, defense attorney David Rudolf rested his case Wednesday without calling the former Carolina Panther to the witness stand. Prosecutors have until Thursday afternoon to prepare their rebuttal case, during which time Carruth could still testify.

The jury never got to hear Carruth tell them about a purported drug deal that he claims was the real cause of Cherica Adams' death.

The defense contends that admitted triggerman Van Brett Watkins shot Adams, the 24-year-old carrying Carruth's child, after Carruth backed out of financing a drug deal for him and wheelman Michael Kennedy.

Witnesses whom Carruth may have told about the alleged drug deal were not permitted to testify about those statements because they are considered hearsay. Judge Charles Lamm denied attempts by Rudolf to get the statements admitted during testimony under a "state of mind" exception.

On Tuesday, Lamm did allow a defense motion outlining the drug deal theory to be shown to the jury as an exhibit, but that defense victory was cut short Wednesday after prosecutors successfully lobbied to have portions of the motion redacted.

In the motion by the defense outlining the drug deal theory, Rudolf maintains that Watkins shot Adams in a moment of rage after she made an obscene gesture at him. That contention is consistent with the testimony of jail guard Shirley Riddle, who testified that Watkins admitted to her after his arrest that he lied when he told investigators that Carruth hired him to shoot Adams.

The last impression the defense left with the jurors was a photo of baby furniture Carruth had purchased for his unborn son. The photo was a powerful image of the defense's assertion that Carruth was looking forward to the birth of his child and not, as prosecutors contend, plotting to have Adams and the baby killed to avoid child support. Though Adams succumbed to her injuries a month after the Nov. 16, 1999, shooting, the baby, Chancellor, survived and is in the custody of Adams' mother.

The photo, along with others of the street where the shooting took place, was admitted into evidence as defense investigator Ron Guerette took the stand for the third time.

Among the final witnesses to testify for the defense was bail bondsman Jimmy Lasco, who tipped off the FBI about Carruth's whereabouts after the former football player fled the state. Carruth, out on $3 million bond, was captured in the trunk of a friend's car in a motel parking lot in Wildersville, Tenn., the day after Cherica Adams died.

Jimmy Lasco

Lasco said that Carruth contacted him after he learned that Adams had died — a condition of his bail that required him to turn himself into authorities.

"When he contacted me he was extremely distraught and upset," Lasco testified. "He said that his only hope had died. He was very emotional." Carruth then told Lasco that he needed time to think.

"He said once she fully recovered she would be able to tell people that he had not done this," Lasco said.

Lasco said that after Carruth was apprehended, he asked Lasco's forgiveness for "not coming immediately." Lasco believed that Carruth planned on returning on his own, he testified.

Also testifying was attorney Leonard Kornberg, an associate of George Laughren who represented Carruth before Rudolf signed onto the case.

Kornberg testified that a distraught Carruth called him twice at home hours after Adams died of her injuries on Dec. 14, 1999. During one of those calls, Carruth said that when Adams died, so did his defense.

Carruth told him that "when she passed away that put him in a position where he was going to be in a lot of trouble," Kornberg testified.

Mirroring Laughren's testimony on Tuesday, Kornberg said Carruth was concerned about going back to jail and said he needed time to think.

The trial is set to resume at 2:00 Thursday afternoon.