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CHARLOTTE N.C. (Court TV)— Triggerman Van Brett Watkins said he hoped Cherica Adams would die and vowed that Rae Carruth would never play football again, according to a detention officer testifying Tuesday in the former Carolina Panther's capital murder trial.
Officer Michael Griffin, who escorted Watkins to a Dec. 1, 1999, court appearance — weeks after the shooting but before Adams succumbed to her injuries — said that Watkins "blurted out" statements that could prove helpful to the defense.
"I hope the bitch dies, and you can tell that ... 'M.F.' Carruth that he will never play football again," Griffin said, pausing in the middle of his answer as he sought for a way to express the expletive Watkins allegedly used. (He said the initials after defense attorney David Rudolf suggested he use "the euphemism" instead.)
The jury was permitted to hear the statement Watkins allegedly made to Griffin because it is considered a "present sense impression," qualifying it as an exception to hearsay.
But Watkins' alleged statements to another law enforcement officer could have the strongest effect on the outcome of the trial. Those statements, allegedly made to a sheriff's deputy, were at the heart of arguments Tuesday afternoon following testimony.
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Van Brett Watkins
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Although Watkins later cut a deal with prosecutors in which he agreed to testify against Carruth in exchange for being spared the death penalty, Watkins allegedly told the deputy that the shooting happened in the heat of anger when Adams made an obscene gesture at him in the midst of his drug-related dispute with Carruth.
Watkins will appear at a hearing Wednesday morning out of the presence of the jury to determine whether he plans to take the Fifth or will testify. One of several possibilities could unfold for the defense:
The defense calls Watkins to the stand, and Watkins agrees to testify. His alleged statement can be admitted through Watkins' testimony, but the defense risks unfavorable testimony if Watkins decides to testify that Carruth commissioned him to kill Adams.
The defense wants to call Watkins to testify, but Watkins takes the Fifth Amendment. Then Judge Charles Lamm will have to decide whether to admit his statement into evidence as an exception to hearsay, since Watkins will be unavailable.
The defense doesn't call Watkins to testify at all, sacrificing the deputy's statement as evidence but avoiding the risk of potentially damaging testimony.
Watkins' conflicting accounts, combined with his criminal record and history of mental illness, may explain why the prosecution never called Watkins to the stand. Instead, co-defendant Michael Kennedy testified without immunity after rejecting two plea offers.
Without Watkins' testimony, prosecutors will likely claim that the statement is hearsay, but defense attorney David Rudolf asked Lamm Tuesday afternoon to admit the statement by the sheriff's deputy into evidence, contending that it falls under a "catch-all" exception given to statements deemed reliable. In this case, the statement is a sworn account given to a law enforcement officer.
Lamm denied the motion, but Rudolf still has a chance to have the statement admitted into evidence without risking calling Watkins to the stand.
The defense asked Lamm to admit the statement since Watkins is unavailable to testify, himself facing murder charges in the case. Although he has already pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, Watkins won't be sentenced until after his co-defendants are tried. According to his deal with prosecutors, he must testify truthfully and cooperate with prosecutors for the deal to stick.
But Lamm said that it's still too early to tell if Watkins is unavailable to testify or not. During a hearing last week — on the first anniversary of Adams' death — Watkins' lawyer, Jean Lawson, requested to be contacted if either side planned on calling her client to the stand. But neither Watkins nor his attorney has said whether he'll evoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
According to the deputy, the statement was made in December 1999. Watkins entered into the plea deal in July 2000, but it is unknown whether prosecutors were aware of the sheriff's sworn statement at the time they hammered out the agreement.
On Tuesday, prosecutor David Graham, who was careful to use phrases like "the alleged statement," implied that Watkins maintains he never made the statement.
Prosecutors could attempt to explain away Watkins' alleged comments as an early attempt to save himself from the death penalty, reclassifying the murder-for-hire as a shooting committed in an unplanned fit of anger.
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