Former prosecutor analyzes Carson warrants
A former Wake County prosecutor said if the allegation that both Laurence Lovette and Demario Atwater shot Eve Carson with two different weapons is proved true, it would alter the dynamic of the case.
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Trial lawyer Karl Knudsen said the information would also raise the possible culpability of each defendant in the death of the 22-year-old woman, whose body was found about a half-mile from campus the morning of March 5.
The allegation about how Carson, the student-body president on the Chapel Hill campus, was killed is contained in a search warrant that cites a confidential informant. A judge ordered the public release of six search warrants on Friday, saying they wouldn't compromise the investigation.
Knudsen said that while informants can be questionable witnesses at trial, the information they provide in search warrants can be useful if it confirms what police already know. He said the closer the information lines up with the facts the officers already have, the more believable it is.
The informant also said that Atwater confided to her that he and Laurence Alvin Lovette Jr. both shot Carson multiple times.
Police investigators were able to confirm two claims – that $1,400 was withdrawn from Carson's bank account over a two-day period and that two weapons were used in the shooting, the warrant stated.
However, Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall told WRAL News on Friday that detectives don't believe the suspects went into Carson's home, as the informant claims in the warrants.
“This is by no means all the evidence they have. This is probably the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
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