Bond Is Set at $3 Million as Carruth Faces Charges

Carolina Panther receiver Rae Carruth and two other men were arraigned Friday in Charlotte, N.C., on charges they planned and carried out the drive-by shooting of the player’s pregnant girlfriend.

Mecklenburg County District Judge C. Jerome Leonard initially set bond at $1.5 million for each of the three defendants. Friday evening, Leonard doubled Carruth’s bond to $3 million--$1 million for each charge against him.

Carruth, 25, and William Watkins, 44, of Charlotte, were arrested Thursday and charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, attempted murder and shooting into an occupied vehicle.

Michael Kennedy, 24, of Charlotte, was arrested Friday morning on the same charges.

Authorities have said Charlotte-Mecklenburg police believe up to four people were involved in the Nov. 16 attack on Cherica Adams, shot four times from a passing vehicle as she drove down a Charlotte street.

Investigators would not comment Friday on whether they felt they were close to making another arrest.

Adams, 24, and her baby boy, delivered 10 weeks prematurely by emergency Caesarean section after the shooting, remained in critical condition at Carolinas Medical Center.

Carruth, who police say is the baby’s father, did not attend Friday’s arraignment, but appeared on a closed-circuit video feed from the county jail across the street, a standard practice for many felony defendants.

Carruth remained expressionless during the hearing. He stood quietly with his hands behind his back while Leonard and the lawyers in the case discussed bond and dates for pretrial hearings.

After prosecutors asked Leonard to set a substantial bond, defense attorney Leonard Kornberg argued that such a move was unnecessary. He said Carruth had never been arrested before, was a recognized athlete and had willingly stayed close to his house in Charlotte since the shooting.

Carruth is in the third year of a four-year, $3.7-million contract that calls for him to get a 1999 salary of $652,500, or $38,382 in each of the 17 weeks that NFL players are paid during the season. Carruth is likely to remain on what amounts to a paid leave from the Panthers until his case is resolved.

Leonard scheduled a bond-reduction hearing for Wednesday in case Carruth is unable to raise the money needed to get out of jail.

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A day after he had five passes intercepted in the Miami Dolphins’ 20-0 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Dolphin quarterback Dan Marino was experiencing some of the same symptoms in his right shoulder that sidelined him for nearly six weeks.

Marino, who played Thursday for the first time since he left an Oct. 17 game against the New England Patriots because of a pinched nerve in his neck, will not practice until Monday.

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New Orleans Saint running back Ricky Williams will sit out Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Rams because of a turf toe condition and probably will sit out a Dec. 5 game against the Atlanta Falcons too. Lamar Smith will start in Williams’ place.

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Jim Marshall’s No. 70 jersey will be retired before the Minnesota Vikings’ home game Sunday against the San Diego Chargers. Marshall made 282 consecutive starts in the 1960s and 1970s but is best remembered for a fumble recovery in 1964 when he rumbled 66 yards the wrong way to give the San Francisco 49ers a safety.