CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Court TV) —Rae Carruth's defense attorney likened co-defendant Michael Eugene Kennedy to "the dog who turns his belly up" as the witness concluded four days of testimony against the former Carolina Panther.

"You were just going to roll over and hope for the best? Wasn't that the strategy you adopted?" defense lawyer David Rudolf asked Kennedy, who took the stand without immunity despite the fact that he, like Carruth, faces capital murder charges for the death of Cherica Adams.

"No sir, not the dog strategy, sir," the witness responded. Kennedy has rejected two plea offers — both of which carried a lengthy prison term but would eliminate a possible death sentence — and steadfastly maintained that his testimony against the former wide receiver was not a ploy to convince prosecutors to offer him a sweeter deal.

"Even if I do get tried for my life, sir, I still will know that I came forward and told the truth," he continued.

Kennedy was unwavering in his account that Carruth threatened him into driving a car and purchasing a gun for another man, Van Brett Watkins, who pumped five bullets into the car of the former NFL player's pregnant girlfriend. The baby survived, but Adams died a month later.

On the first day of cross-examination Kennedy kept his answers to a minimum, often responding with a simple "Yes, sir" or "No, sir." On Tuesday he was more talkative, seeming eager to expound at every opportunity to counteract Rudolf's attempts to discredit him.

"Now that I look back, I see there were a lot of things I could have done and I should have done," Kennedy offered at one point late Tuesday afternoon, "but Rae is probably saying in his head that it was a bad plan also."

Rudolf immediately pounced on the statement, launching one of of several heated exchanges between the witness and defense lawyer.

"No, actually he's saying he's innocent," Rudolf said. "He's saying in his head that he didn't do this, Mr. Kennedy, and that you're a liar. That's what he's saying."

"He was there," Kennedy insisted. "He stopped his car and she stopped behind him."

"That's what you say, sir," said Rudolf, before being interrupted by Judge Charles Lamm.

"It's not your function to argue with the witness, it's your function to ask him questions," Lamm told the lawyer.

Rudolf's flamboyant, combative behavior didn't seem to phase Kennedy. Perhaps that's because the witness' lawyer James Exxum — grinning as he listened to his client make the point — had warned him about Rudolf's "theatrical performance," a reputation he's earned in Charlotte legal circles.

This trial has proved no exception. Though the lawyers are all required to remain seated while questioning witnesses, Rudolf managed to stand within a few feet of the stand during most of the cross-examination as he added notes to a chart sitting on an easel in front of the judge and referred to numerous documents and exhibits.

Even seated, the bearded lawyer often perches on the edge of his chair, gesticulating wildly with his hands, rubbing his forehead and taking off his glasses to use as a pointer.

It was not all high drama Tuesday. Rudolf spent almost an hour tediously detailing hundreds of cellular phone calls and pager numbers exchanged between Kennedy and others in the months surrounding the shooting. Kennedy claimed to remember little about the calls, but the former crack dealer admitted to Rudolf that customers had his pager number and would use it to contact him if they wanted to buy drugs.

While a few jurors followed along closely with the many exhibits Rudolf referred to, one sat with his arms crossed and another seemed to be falling asleep at one point.

Rudolf used a black magic marker to create a large chart illustrating inconsistencies in Kennedy's statements to investigators. Every minute detail that either conflicted with or was omitted from Kennedy's initial statement to investigators filled several of its oversize pages.

Rudolf questioned why Kennedy provided some information to investigators later on that he never mentioned in his initial interviews.

"Since I've been in jail I had time to think so I remember a lot of things that happened, sir," he explained. Kennedy also blamed some of the discrepancies on imperfect note-taking by police.

The chart also served as a valuable tool for Rudolf to turn the tables on the witness later in the afternoon, when Kennedy said his own attorneys cautioned him that Rudolf would "twist the truth."

"Do you see anything twisted here?" Rudolf said, furiously turning the pages. "If you see something twisted here you just let me know."

"No sir," Kennedy conceded.

The afternoon was punctuated by other dramatic moments, as Rudolf turned on the pressure — but Kennedy refused to budge.

One response, in which Kennedy speculated that another girlfriend of Carruth's was "covering for him," prompted a lashing by Rudolf.

"You guess? You're not going to guess, are you?" Rudolph shot back. "He's on trial for his life. Do you understand that?"

"Yes sir," Kennedy said.

"Then what are you doing guessing?" Rudolf said.

After court Tuesday, Rudolf said in an interview on Court TV that he "can't tell whether I was over the line or not. All I can do is try to be real and try to be who I am."

Though he would not disclose whether Carruth will take the stand, Rudolf did say that several members of the Carolina Panthers are expected to testify.

Testimony will continue Wednesday morning as prosecutors continue to present their case.