Eve Carson, slain UNC student president, wanted to pray before murder, says witness
(CBS/WRAL) HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. - UNC-Chapel Hill student body president Eve Carson pleaded for her life and asked her assailants to pray with her in the moments leading up to her shooting death three years ago, according to witness testimony at Laurence Alvin Lovette Jr.'s murder trial.
Pictures: Eve Carson, UNC student, murdered
Lovette, 20, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Carson. Authorities say Lovett and Demario James Atwater kidnapped Carson, forced her to withdraw money from an ATM and then shot her five times.
"Before [Lovette] even shot her...she was saying, 'Let's pray,'" 20-year-old Jayson McNeil said, recounting a March 2008 conversation he had with Lovette, who is charged with murder in the crime, CBS affiliate WRAL reports.
"She wanted them to pray together," McNeil reportedly said in court Tuesday.
The conversation between Lovette and McNeil happened the day Durham police arrested Atwater in the case, WRAL reports. An anxious Lovette called McNeil seeking help to find a place to hide, McNeil said.
McNeil, who's testifying as part of a plea deal in a federal drug case, reportedly said Lovette told him that he and Atwater went to Chapel Hill to rob and that they saw Carson getting into her SUV and "rushed her." Lovette got into the driver's seat, and Atwater got into the back seat with Carson and held a gun to her head.
"[Lovette] said the whole time that Eve Carson was in the back seat that she was pleading for her life and explained that they didn't have to do what they were doing," McNeil said, according to WRAL.
Lovette has pleaded not guilty. Atwater pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges and is serving two life sentences.
Lovette is also charged with first-degree murder in the death of Duke University student Abhijit Mahato, 29, whose body was found in his apartment. On Monday, his attorney asked the judge to bar the prosecution from presenting evidence about the Mahato case during Lovette's trial.
Complete coverage of Eve Carson on Crimesider
