Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 8, 1992 TAG: 9203080104
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
William Douglas Carter said he's broke after four years in prison, but plans to put his money-making talents to work raising cash for Edwards' effort to win the Democratic nomination and then the election.
"I told him if he sprang me out of prison, I'd be the biggest campaign fund-raiser for him in Northern Virginia." Carter said.
Carter, 59, got what he wanted last month when a Loudoun County Circuit Court judge threw out his conviction on a charge of shooting and wounding his ex-wife in 1987. The judge ruled that Carter should get a new trial because prosecutors withheld key evidence that pointed to his innocence.
That evidence came mainly from a Loudoun County deputy with a guilty conscience who came forward last year while Edwards was trying to get Carter's conviction thrown out.
The deputy, Doug Poppa, revealed that the prosecution ignored a statement that Carter's ex-wife made shortly before the shooting. Edwards said he never asked for Carter's election support, but won't turn it down.
The Carters were in the midst of a bitter divorce, and Poppa said Carter's wife told him she was willing to shoot herself and blame her husband if that would put him in jail and ruin his life.
Carole Carter was not seriously injured in the July 1987 shooting, and told police her husband shot her. He said he was out of town at the time of the shooting. The two were struggling over how to divide a $2.3 million, 210-acre horse farm and Carter's communications company, T-CAS of Vienna.
Carter was convicted in 1988 of malicious wounding and was sentenced to 14 years. From jail he continued to maintain his innocence, claiming he was set up by his wife and corrupt officials in Loudoun County.
No one paid much attention to his claims until 1990, when he contacted Edwards on the advice of a fellow inmate at the state prison camp in Pulaski County. Carter said the inmate, Graham Larmer, a Roanoke accountant convicted of fraud, told him he would have gotten a lesser sentence in 1986 if he had listened to Edwards.
Edwards said he believes Carter would have won release without Poppa's testimony because he clearly didn't get a fair trial, and the evidence against him was so flimsy. But, he said, when Poppa came forward, it was all the judge needed. The judge ordered Carter released and said the prosecution would have to give him a new trial or let him go.
Carter said he hopes the case will be dropped and he can get on with his life. In the meantime, he said, "I'll do whatever I can for Mr. Edwards. I expect to be a major fund-raiser."
He's also been busy dropping Edwards' name in newspaper and television interviews about his release from prison. He said he even tried raising one of Edwards' bumper stickers during taping for one news show, but was told it would be cut.
Edwards said he never asked for Carter's election support, but won't turn it down. He said he took Carter's case only because it seemed Carter did not get a fair trial and there was a strong possibility that he was innocent.
Obviously, Edwards said, Carter "is very pleased with the result."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB