Panhandle teen says on tape he never intended to kill uncle

By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer

PENSACOLA, Fla. --

A teenager told investigators he never intended to kill his uncle, a Kung Fu artist, but repeatedly stabbed the man to stop him beating and kicking him, according to a tape-recorded interview played for jurors Wednesday.

Daniel Carter was 15 when he killed Jack Carter, 46, of Navarre Beach, after he burst into the teen's bedroom on July 16, 2002 in the Beulah community northwest of Pensacola. The defense contends the uncle was in a drunken and drug-induced rage.

"He was using his fists, he was using his feet, he was using his flashlight," Daniel told Escambia County sheriff's investigators during the interview.

The boy, now 16, claims he used the rusty butcher knife, inherited from his late grandfather, in self-defense, but he is charged with premeditated first-degree murder. The only penalty Florida law allows is life in prison without parole if he is convicted as charged.

Daniel told his questioners that he never would have tried to stop his uncle, who also threatened to tie him up and castrate him, if he had known what the result would be.

"I was mad, but not to that extent," the boy said on the tape. "I can't believe I did that. I didn't know any other way."

Frank Filligim, one of two investigators who questioned Daniel, said the boy had been crying before but not during the interview.

Filligim said it appeared he was not so much scared as he was angry that his uncle had broken his television set, stereo and video game during their confrontation.

Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer is trying to use testimony about Daniel's possible mind-set, multiple wounds Jack Carter suffered and expert medical opinion to prove the teen intended to commit murder.

The boy's mother, Cindy Carter, testified Tuesday that she had asked her brother to have a "man-to-man" talk with Daniel because she suspected he and a friend planned to obtain and sell marijuana. She said her brother also was angry that Daniel had gotten into some of his surfing magazines.

Opponents of prosecuting juveniles as adults held a news conference during the trial's lunch break to voice support for Daniel.

"Once again, Pensacola has embarrassed - Florida has embarrassed - the entire nation with this unbelievable prosecution of children," said Bishop Thomas Masters, pastor of New Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Riviera Beach in southeastern Florida. "They are not being tried by their peers. It is unfair to ask adults to try to get into the mind-set of a child."

Masters, leader of a group called Under Our Wings, cited the cases of Alex and Derek King, who were 12 and 13 when they killed their father with a baseball bat near Pensacola in 2001 and Rebecca Falcon, convicted in Panama City of killing a cab driver in 1997 when she was 15.

The King boys were charged with first-degree, convicted of second-degree and pleaded guilty to third-degree murder after a judge threw out their verdicts. Alex was sentenced to seven years and Derek to eight in juvenile prison.

Falcon was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving life with no parole possible. An appellate court rejected her appeal. Her mother, Karen Kaneer, said she now plans to seek clemency.