Carson murder suspect trial date set for Nov. 28

Laurence Alvin Lovette Jr. is set to go to trial Nov. 28 on first-degree murder charges for the 2008 shooting of former student body president Eve Carson, Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall said Wednesday.

Prosecutors say Lovette and Demario James Atwater kidnapped Carson from her home on March 5, 2008. They say the men then drove Carson in her blue 2005 Toyota Highlander to a bank to withdraw $1,400 from her account before shooting her five times in a neighborhood off East Franklin Street.

Lovette, a co-defendant for the crime, is not eligible for the death penalty because he was 17 years old at the time of the shooting.

Atwater, who was eligible for the death penalty, was sentenced to two counts of life in prison after pleading guilty in federal court Sept. 23, 2010.

He had already accepted a state sentence of life in prison without parole in exchange for the state not pursuing the death penalty.

UNC law professor Tamar Birckhead said Lovette will receive life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder.

But without the threat of a capital case, she said, Lovette’s defense could try to reach a plea agreement with a lighter sentence or prove innocence.

“Their goal might be to avoid life in prison without parole,” she said. “When Mr. Atwater’s attorneys were negotiating a resolution of the case … their principal motivation was likely to avoid the death penalty.”

Thomas Maher, director of N.C. Indigent Defense Services, said Lovette’s age at Carson’s shooting could impact how the trial plays out.

“In terms of practical impact, it means the jurors are going to be faced with a defendant who’s very young,” he said.

“A trial of someone who is underage is always different.”

Lovette faces another murder charge for the Jan. 18, 2008, killing of Abhijit Mahato, a Duke University graduate student.

Maher said that case should only be brought up in the Carson trial if a factual connection exists.

Maher said while it might have taken slightly longer than usual to set a court date, that was to be expected. He said prosecutors probably focused on the older defendant first.

He said the case’s high profile could slow jury selection, because court officials must try to select a jury without preconceived bias.

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