Lawyers for former Carolina Panthers player Rae Carruth are asking a federal appeals court to reconsider his conviction for plotting to kill his pregnant girlfriend, the AP reports.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case today.
Carruth’s attorneys argue that statements Cherica Adams made to a paramedic, a nurse and police implicating Carruth after the shooting should not have been used in Carruth’s 2001 trial because they couldn’t cross examine her.
Adams died weeks after she was shot four times in November 1999. Her baby with Carruth survived and is being raised by Adams’ mother.
The 36-year-old Carruth was sentenced to 18 to 24 years in prison. His projected release date is 2018.
