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Guilty plea in Eve Carson's slaying (UNC student body president murdered during robbery)
Charlotte Observer ^ | 20 Apr 10 | Anne Blythe

Posted on 04/20/2010 12:31:32 PM PDT by Drew68

WINSTON- SALEM - Demario James Atwater, one of two men charged with murdering UNC-Chapel Hill's student body president, will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty Monday to federal carjacking, kidnapping and weapons charges.

What remains unclear is whether his death behind bars will be a natural one or whether the state will execute him.

Atwater, whose plea agreement with federal prosecutors allows him to avoid the death penalty in federal court, still faces capital charges in state court of kidnapping and murdering Eve Carson.

A hearing is tentatively scheduled for next week in Orange County Superior Court on the state charges. District Attorney Jim Woodall would not say whether any plea arrangements had been discussed.

Federal prosecutors rarely get involved in homicide cases such as Carson's, and it's not clear why they sought charges against Atwater.

"This may have been a way to secure cooperation to close a case against a co-defendant in state court," said Jim Cooney, a Charlotte lawyer who is not connected to the case.

Laurence Alvin Lovette, 19, also faces state murder and kidnapping charges in the Carson case. Lovette does not face the death penalty because he was 17 in March 2008 when Carson was found shot in a Chapel Hill neighborhood less than a mile from the campus. The U.S. Supreme Court deems anyone younger than 18 at the time of a crime too young for execution.

Atwater's federal plea came just before federal prosecutors and defense lawyers were to begin interviewing potential jurors for a trial that was to begin in May.

Atwater had asked for the federal trial to be moved out of state, saying that he feared the pool of jurors had been tainted by media exposure. But Judge James A. Beaty ruled last week against a change of venue.

Atwater will not be sentenced in the federal case until Sept. 23, according to court documents. But, according to federal prosecutors, Atwater acknowledged by his guilty plea that he would be sentenced to life in prison.

"A life sentence in the federal criminal justice system means just that: life without the possibility of parole or early release," Anna Mills Wagoner, U.S. attorney for the federal district that includes Orange and Durham counties, said in a prepared statement.

Though a judge and Atwater's attorneys were aware of the facts prosecutors had in the federal kidnapping and carjacking case, most of the details were filed under seal in federal court and not available to the public.

'Especially heinous'

In court documents that were public, investigators claimed that Atwater and Lovette kidnapped Carson early in the morning on March 5, 2008, and forced her to withdraw $1,400 from automated teller machines before they shot her numerous times with a .25-caliber handgun and a sawed-off shotgun.

Federal carjacking charges can carry a death sentence if prosecutors show the crime occurred during the commission of a homicide.

In some court documents, federal prosecutors listed aggravating factors that they planned to use in their push for the death penalty, including that the homicide was committed in such an "especially heinous, cruel and depraved manner" that it "involved torture and serious physical abuse to the victim."

Carson family approves

Carson's parents, Bob Carson and Teresa Bethke, released a brief statement Monday after the plea. Prosecutors and lawyers representing the Carson family have acknowledged that they are against the death penalty.

"While we deplore the evil and negligence that led to Eve's death, we agree with the U.S. Attorney's decision to accept the plea agreement," the Carsons' statement said. "We are very grateful for the dedication and hard work that have gone into the investigation and prosecution of this crime."

Wagoner said in a statement that the plea would spare Carson's family the "uncertainty and pain of a drawn-out trial and endless appeals.

"Eve Carson's murder was a senseless, random act of violence," Wagoner said. "We hope this resolution will help the Carson family put this horrendous act behind them, as best they can, and move on with their lives."

Comments have been disabled because of the nature of this story.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: crime; evecarson; thugculture
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To: TheDon

Agee. But that judgment was made just recently, within the past 5 yrs if I recall correctly.


21 posted on 04/20/2010 2:43:51 PM PDT by jaydubya2
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To: Palladin

more people have been murdered by black Americans than all those killed at Oklahoma City.

but plenty more people have been murdered by white Americans as well. There are plenty of stories about white men murdering their wives, abusing their children to death, shooting up their workplace, snatching teen girls to rape and murder. This is an issue if evil....not race.


22 posted on 04/20/2010 2:49:47 PM PDT by brwnsuga (Black and Free!!!)
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To: Drew68

see post#22


23 posted on 04/20/2010 2:50:14 PM PDT by brwnsuga (Black and Free!!!)
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To: Travis McGee

these remorseless feral savages are capable of.

you mean criminals right? Criminals of every race, right?


24 posted on 04/20/2010 2:51:27 PM PDT by brwnsuga (Black and Free!!!)
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To: brwnsuga

Why do you ask? Chip on your shoulder?


25 posted on 04/20/2010 3:36:32 PM PDT by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: Lurker

I hope he winds up in solitary. That’s no picnic. Some criminals take to “regular” prison like a criminal club.


26 posted on 04/20/2010 3:37:44 PM PDT by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: Drew68
Comments have been disabled because of the nature of this story.

Gee, color me surprised. Too bad it wasn't the much rarer white on black atrocity because comments would not only be encouraged but would be spurred on by no stop MSM editorialization.

27 posted on 04/20/2010 3:46:23 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
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To: Altura Ct.

Mustn’t let the victim class get riled up.


28 posted on 04/20/2010 3:57:24 PM PDT by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: Travis McGee

No really, to whom are you referring. Don’t be afraid, you are anonymous, show us who you really are? Threads like these reveal the true colors of some Freepers. I am a Conservative, a Patriot, a military wife AND I am also black. So when people make insinuations that savagery is only present in minorities I find it very offensive. Like I said in a previous post, there have been many examples of heinous acts carried out by white men all year long....wives disappering, children abused, public places all shot up, girls raped and murdered. Is it any less atrocious if the killer of a white female is a white man? Absolutely not. Don’t think I have any sympathy for Darius...he should be executed for what he did. But why do some Freepers make everything about race, and yet get upset when some black people make everything about race? You can’t have it both ways. There I’m done. Goodnight.


29 posted on 04/20/2010 6:56:31 PM PDT by brwnsuga (Black and Free!!!)
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To: brwnsuga

Get that chip off your shoulder, brown sugar. It’s not becoming.


30 posted on 04/20/2010 7:16:44 PM PDT by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: Drew68

I can’t understand why the Feds have any jurisdiction in this case. It all happened inside the borders of North Carolina, no state lines were crossed, no interstate commerce or anything else was involved. A couple of thugs drove over to Chapel Hell from here in Durham, found an easy, disarmed mark, and did what thugs do. I just don’t get where the Federal justice system has any right to get into this. This is a state matter, period, full stop.

Then again, knowing how mindblowingly liberal Chapel Hill and Orange County are, ol’ Demetrius here would probably get two years’ probation and a government stipend from the town as reparations for past oppression. So maybe this works out for the better.

}:-)4


31 posted on 04/21/2010 7:42:08 AM PDT by Moose4 (Wasting away again in Michaelnifongville.)
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To: Travis McGee

I notice you mention the chip you seem to think I have on my shoulder...again.....but did not comment on my actual post. What is NOT becoming is that you don’t seem to want to hold a mirror up to your own bigoted way of thinking. It’s all good. The truth is in there somewhere and one day you won’t be so afraid to admit it. Don’t bother to reply with the standard chip message and blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda.... I get it even if you don’t.


32 posted on 04/21/2010 8:16:04 AM PDT by brwnsuga (Black and Free!!!)
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To: brwnsuga
What is NOT becoming is that you don’t seem to want to hold a mirror up to your own bigoted way of thinking.

This is called by the shrinks "projection." Look in your own mirror for the racism, brown sugar. You are the one injecting race into this from the get-go.

33 posted on 04/21/2010 9:18:41 AM PDT by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: Moose4
I can’t understand why the Feds have any jurisdiction in this case. It all happened inside the borders of North Carolina, no state lines were crossed, no interstate commerce or anything else was involved.

Kidnapping and carjacking are both federal crimes.

34 posted on 04/21/2010 10:07:19 AM PDT by Drew68
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To: brwnsuga
... you are anonymous,...

"Travis McGee" is hardly anonymous.

35 posted on 04/21/2010 11:33:04 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: mbynack
Sometimes I think life in prison is a worse sentence than death.

For many criminals, prison life is a significant step up in lifestyle. A place to sleep every night, three meals a day, clothes...

Some will gladly trade their freedom for such security.

36 posted on 04/21/2010 11:38:48 AM PDT by TChris ("Hello", the politician lied.)
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To: Drew68

They’re Federal crimes even when they don’t cross state lines? I honestly did not know that.

}:-)4


37 posted on 04/21/2010 1:11:09 PM PDT by Moose4 (Wasting away again in Michaelnifongville.)
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To: Moose4
They’re Federal crimes even when they don’t cross state lines? I honestly did not know that.

Yep. Kidnapping has been a federal crime since at least the Lindberg case and carjacking was added as a federal offense in 1992.

38 posted on 04/21/2010 6:26:18 PM PDT by Drew68
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