(Court TV) — Following Rae Carruth's conspiracy conviction and sentencing, the defense appealed the verdict. The North Carolina Court of Appeals agreed with the defense in part, ruling in August 2003 that Cherica Adams' handwritten notes were improperly introduced as evidence.

They did not, however, agree the error was egregious enough to warrant a new trial, and upheld Carruth's conviction based on other evidence pointing to his guilt.

That decision was appealed by the defense — but in October 2003, the state's highest court refused to review the case and affirmed the lower court's decision. Less than two weeks later, Carruth and his co-defendants were ordered to pay nearly $6 million in damages in a wrongful death suit filed by the estate of Cherica Adams.

Carruth is serving his 19- to 23-year sentence at Nash Correctional Institution in Nashville, N.C., and is among the prison's general population.

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His defense lawyer, David Rudolf, represented novelist Michael Peterson, tried and convicted in October 2003 of murdering his wife.

Van Brett Watkins, the admitted shooter and a key state witness against Carruth, is serving a 40- to 50-year prison term. Under a plea deal, co-defendant Michael Kennedy is serving a 12- to 14-year term, while Stanley Abraham served an 18-month sentence on assorted charges and was released from a minimum security prison in June 2001.

Carruth's young son by Cherica Adams, Chancellor, is 4 years old and has cerebral palsy. He is in the care of his maternal grandmother, Saudra Adams, who now gives motivational speeches to parents of slain children.

In May 2004, a Mecklenburg County judge ruled Chancellor cannot be forced to visit his father in prison, rejecting a bid by Carruth's mother, Theodry, for court-ordered visits.

"No court on the face of this earth," District Judge Becky Thorne Tin said, would force visits in light of the circumstances.