PUBLISHED THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2004

Young defendant: `He kept coming`

Jury hears police tape of Carter interview

Amber Bollman
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com

About 12 hours after he was taken into custody, Daniel Carter told an investigator he believed that brandishing a knife was the only way to make his uncle stop beating him.

A 20-minute recorded interview between Carter, then 15, and Escambia County homicide investigator Frank Fillingim was played for jurors Wednesday during the second day of Carter's first-degree murder trial.

"It was the only thing I knew to do," Carter said in the interview, conducted the day after his 46- year-old uncle, Jack, bled to death after a violent struggle inside the teenager's bedroom.

"I just wanted him to stop, and he wouldn't. He kept coming. If I had known I would have killed him, I would have just let him beat me."

Phillip Davies, a crime scene technician with the Escambia County Sheriff's Office, shows the jury the knife used by Daniel Carter against his uncle Jack Carter. Gary McCracken @PensacolaNewsJournal.com

Daniel Carter, now 16, faces life in prison if convicted.

Although Daniel Carter maintains he acted in self-defense after his uncle stormed into his room and attacked him on the night of July 16, 2002, a friend of the defendant Carter testified Wednesday that he heard the teenager say he planned to slit Jack Carter's throat.

Brian Voeks, who was 18 and residing with Daniel Carter and his mother at the time of Jack Carter's death, said Daniel Carter was worried that his uncle was coming to their Beulah home to punish him for rummaging through Jack Carter's old magazines.

Voeks testified that on the day Jack Carter was killed, Daniel repeatedly mentioned how nervous he was.

"He didn't want me not to be there when his uncle came over," Voeks said.

At the time, Daniel Carter was holding the antique knife used to kill Jack Carter, Voeks said.

"He said that if his uncle started beating him, he was going to slit his throat," Voeks said.

Defense attorney Patrece Cashwell grilled Voeks, who has given conflicting statements to authorities in the past.

On the night of Jack Carter's killing, Voeks said nothing to investigators about Daniel Carter making plans to use the knife against his uncle.

"I didn't tell the police because Daniel was my best friend, and I didn't want to hurt him," Voeks said. "I didn't want him to be in trouble for premeditated murder like he is now."

Voeks also said Daniel Carter had accused his uncle of "pushing him around" in the past.

"I still didn't think he was going to come over there," Voeks said. "I have a lot of guilt over this."

In the interview played for jurors, Daniel Carter said his uncle was out of control with rage, using a large steel flashlight to break items in his bedroom and strike him in the neck.

"He wouldn't stop," Carter said during the interview. "He wouldn't talk to me."

Although Carter admitted to investigators that he was angry, he said it wasn't "to the extent" that he wanted to harm his uncle.

Daniel Carter said his uncle ripped a telephone out of the wall when he tried to call 911 and only swung the knife toward Jack Carter when he felt it was the only way to protect himself.

"I just wanted him to leave me alone," Carter said during the interview.

Jack Carter suffered 10 knife wounds, including a fatal gash to his neck.

In other testimony, Marni Jamison, the live-in girlfriend of Jack Carter, spoke about a phone message she received from Daniel's mother, Cindy Carter, earlier that day.

"She said she was at her wit's end with Daniel," Jamison said. "She wanted Jack to come help her with him."

Jamison, along with several more of Jack Carter's friends, said he did not appear to be angry the evening he died.

She said he didn't seem impaired by drugs or alcohol when he left their condominium and began driving to Cindy Carter's home.

"He said Cindy was in fear for her life, and he needed to be there for her," Jamison said.

Laboratory results showed that Jack Carter had a blood-alcohol level of 0.13 percent, along with Valium, traces of a painkiller and anabolic steroids in his system.

Forensic toxicologist David Black said the type and amount of steroids detected in his body would not have been likely to cause violent, aggressive behavior.

Several Escambia County sheriff's deputies testified Wednesday about the night they were called to the Carters' home.

Daniel Carter was crying, rocking back and forth and talking to himself, deputies said.

Crime-scene technician Phillip Davies testified that he collected two knives, a box of shotgun shells and a 7-foot length of rope from Jack Carter's clothing.

Cashwell challenged Fillingim about his failure to instruct investigators to collect several pieces of evidence from Jack Carter's truck.

"Do you try to find evidence that shows premeditated murder, or do you try to find evidence that shows justifiable homicide?" Cashwell asked.

Fillingim said the evidence was collected impartially and is not intended to support any individual's version of events.

Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer completed his case against Carter on Wednesday.

Cashwell is expected to present her case today.

Circuit Judge Terry Terrell said he hopes the jury can begin deliberations on Friday.

It is not known whether Daniel Carter will testify.

Advocates protest Carter trial

Several children's rights advocates gathered outside the courthouse Wednesday to voice their opposition to the charges against Daniel Carter.

Bill King, of the organization Kids in Court, said he had seen no evidence of premeditation in the prosecution's presentation.

Bishop Thomas Masters, of Under Our Wings, said there is no reason Carter should have been charged as an adult.

"Once again, Pensacola has embarrassed Florida and embarrassed the entire nation," Masters said. "Children and adults are different, and they should be treated as such."