CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Court TV) — Rae Carruth's behavior was not unusual in the hours after his pregnant girlfriend was shot, testified Hannibal Navies, the teammate who knew Rae Carruth the longest and most intimately.

Testifying Tuesday afternoon, Navies is the latest athlete to take the stand on Carruth's behalf. But unlike the others who testified primarily as character witnesses, Navies also saw Carruth on the night of the shooting.

The soft-spoken linebacker told the jury that Carruth came to his house shortly after midnight on Nov. 16, 1999, just hours after he and his girlfriend, Tonya Ferguson, had run into Carruth and Adams at a movie theater.

Carruth didn't appear upset, Navies testified, until after he was leaving the house and received a page that the seven-months' pregnant Adams had been shot.

"He was saddened at this point as opposed to earlier. He was very quiet. He basically had nothing to say at all," Navies testified.

He and Ferguson then accompanied him to Carolinas Medical Center, where doctors managed to save the baby, but Adams died of her injuries nearly a month later.

Navies also offered testimony that contradicts the state's theory that the former wide receiver plotted Adams' murder to avoid child support payments in the wake of a struggling, injury-plagued career. Carruth was already supporting his 6-year-old son in California.

Navies said Carruth never complained about supporting his son, but was concerned about whether the child's mother was using the money appropriately.

"He didn't feel that the money he was sending to the child was actually given to his child," he said, adding that Carruth also thought it unfair that the woman wouldn't let Carruth see his son without her present.

Navies first met Carruth as a classmate and teammate while attending the University of Colorado. Two years younger than Carruth, Navies said that Carruth was an acquaintance.

"We didn't hang together or anything of that nature. We were teammates," he said.

A friendship flourished later, when Navies was drafted by the Panthers and moved to Charlotte.

"I didn't know anybody. He kind of took me under his wing," Navies said. "He showed me around the city, showed me how professional football works."

Navies even moved into Carruth's house in June 1999, where he lived rent free until October when he purchased his own home.

At the urging of defense attorney David Rudolf, Navies turned to face the jury and described Carruth's demeanor during those four months.

"He was always a fun person to be around. He was always laughing," he said. "I never saw him down. He was always pretty much energetic."

He also said that during that time, he saw admitted drug-dealer Michael Kennedy, Carruth's co-defendant, at the house only two or three times and that he met gunman Van Brett Watkins on the day of the shooting. Watkins was washing Carruth's car for money.

While other teammates have testified that Carruth was a good-natured person who smiled often, Navies claimed to know more details about Carruth's personal life.

Unlike other teammates, Navies had met Cherica Adams and knew of her pregnancy. He had also met Candace Smith, another woman Carruth was dating.

Smith testified that Carruth admitted involvement in the shooting, an allegation the defense says is a lie fabricated by a scorned ex-lover. In an apparent attempt to diminish the former stripper's credibility, Rudolf had Navies detail his encounters with Smith.

In one instance, he said, she was banging on Carruth's door and screaming so loudly that Navies urged Carruth to talk to her just to prevent neighbors from calling the police.

"He told me to check on him if he wasn't back in five to ten minutes," Navies said Carruth told him.

By then, he said, things seemed to calm down, but he later learned that the situation was more serious than he had realized because Smith had a boxcutter on her.

"She said she didn't know what to expect over here when she came over, so she said if she had to use it, she would use it," Navies said.

In her testimony, Smith admitted to bringing the razor blade with her to Carruth's house after learning that a woman was with them in the house. But Smith claims that the boxcutter was broken and that the three even chuckled about it.

Navies disputed that account.

"In my opinion it was very serious and it didn't even involve me. It wasn't a joke.

After that night, Navies said, he advised Carruth not to see Smith again. Carruth and Navies did see Smith on the night of the shooting, however, when Smith met them at the hospital where Adams was being treated.

On cross-examination, prosecutor Gentry Caudill asked Navies about Carruth's behavior at the hospital. Caudill's questioning caused tension in the courtroom; spectators and even Carruth were glancing around the courtroom not knowing what to make of his questions, which were asked just above a whisper in between long pauses.

Though Navies didn't have much to contribute about Carruth's actions at the hospital, the cross-examination grew intense as Caudill began firing questions at Navies in a volume that prompted an objection by Rudolf that the attorney was screaming at the witness.

Judge Charles Lamm overruled the objection, adding, "I'm going to sustain it if it gets much louder."

Navies seemed to have limited knowledge of Carruth's dealings with Adams' family at the hospital, but the prosecutor pressed him about a heated conversation between Adams' stepmother and Carruth.

"Did you see Carruth stand up, throw his coat down and go out in the hall?" he said, quickly rising from his seat, ripping his own jacket off and throwing it on the floor.

Navies said he did not.