Troy, Alabama

From the Troy Messenger of November 8, 2006

Accused found not guilty

A man accused of murder in connection with a 2004 shooting death at a Pike County night club was found not guilty on Wednesday when a jury agreed he fired in self-defense.

It was the second trial for 22-year-old Cedrin Ferodd Carter of Troy, who was accused of murder in the shooting death of Donney Howard Carpenter, 34, of Brundidge at Club Paradise on Dec. 25, 2004.

The state's first case against Carter ended in a mistrial in June, after a jury deliberated for nearly six hours before declaring it could not reach a verdict.

In his first trial, Carter entered a plea of not guilty. But in this week's trial, which began immediately after jury selection on Monday, he changed his plea to self-defense, admitting for the first time since the incident that he shot Carpenter.

The jury in this week's trial was not aware of the previous mistrial or Carter's change in plea.

In both trials, the state's case against Carter hinged on eyewitness testimony, and both times Carter's attorney, Randy Arnold, heavily scrutinized the reliability of that testimony.
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Carter did not take the stand during the trial, and the defense called only one witness, Don Smith, the Club Paradise security guard who was on duty the night of the shooting. Smith testified about a gun and a bullet he found underneath Carpenter's body when he rolled him over after the shooting. Smith said the bullet did not bear any marks of having been fired.

In his closing argument, Arnold told jurors his theory was that Carpenter had attempted to fire at Carter and the gun jammed, and Carter had returned fire in self-defense.