Release of Rae Carruth: Ex-NFL WR released from NC Prison

Former Carolina Panthers receiver Rae Carruth was released from North Carolina jail on Monday morning after serving nearly two decades of conspiracy for killing her pregnant girlfriend.

Carruth walked through the doors of the Sampson Institution in Clinton, North Carolina, shortly after 8 am, and boarded a white off-road vehicle waiting for him.

According to WTVD, he will be monitored after his release for the next nine months, where he will have to meet a probation officer.

Carruth was also convicted of firing on a busy vehicle and using an instrument to destroy an unborn baby in connection with the death of Cherica Adams, 24 years old. He was found not guilty of first degree murder.

Adams was seven months pregnant at the time of the shooting on November 16, 1999.

She was driving her car to Charlotte after a movie outing with Carruth, when another vehicle stopped next to her and she shot him four times. She died a month later.

A son, Chancellor Lee Adams, was born prematurely and has cerebral palsy. He will turn 19 next month and was raised by Cherica Adams' mother, Saundra.

Carruth apologized for his role in the murder and said he wished to have a relationship with his son.

"I'm excited about getting out of here, I'm nervous about how I will be received by the public," Carruth said in a telephone interview with WSOC-TV. "I still have to work, I still have to live, I have to exist, and there seems to be so much hatred and negativity towards me, I'm actually a little scared."

Saundra Adams says that Carruth will not receive custody of his son.

"I've already forgiven Rae, but to maintain any relationship with him, there has to be some repentance," Adams said. Charlotte Observer. "And I think that opens the door, but I can definitely say that he will never keep the Chancellor in his custody."

Carruth, 44, was sentenced to 18-24 years in 2001, after authorities said he had hired Van Brett Watkins and Michael Kennedy to kill Adams.

Watkins is serving a 40-year minimum sentence and should not be released until 2046, while Kennedy and another accomplice, Stanley Abraham, have served their time and have been released.