PENSACOLA - A teenager told investigators he never intended to kill his uncle, a Kung Fu artist, but repeatedly stabbed the man to stop him from 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 July 16, 2002 in the Beulah community northwest of Pensacola. The defense says 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, says he used the knife 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.
The prosecution later rested its case. Defense lawyer Patrece Cashwell will present her evidence today, and Circuit Judge Terry Terrell said he expects the jury to get the case Friday.
Daniel said 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 was 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.
A friend of the teen, Brian Voeks, 20, testified that Daniel had shown him the knife earlier that day and said he would slit his uncle's throat if he was attacked.Voeks did not tell authorities this until Sunday, a day before the trial began.
Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer is trying to use testimony about Daniel's possible mind set, the 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 asked her brother to have a "man-to-man" talk with Daniel because she suspected he planned to obtain and sell marijuana. 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.
