Basketball Player Gets 35 Years For Teammate's Murder
WACO, Texas -- A former Baylor basketball player was sentenced to 35 years in prison Wednesday, a week after he unexpectedly pleaded guilty to murdering a teammate two years ago.
Carlton Dotson told authorities that he thought people were trying to kill him because
"he is Jesus, the son of God," according to court documents.
Dotson, 23, faced five years to life in prison for killing Patrick Dennehy, 21, who was missing for six weeks before his body was found in field a few miles from campus in July 2003.
Dotson pleaded guilty on June 8, five days before his murder trial was to start, with
out making a sentencing deal with prosecutors.
State District Judge Ralph Strother made his sentencing decis
ion Wednesday on the basis of documents filed by prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Part of the prosecution's report included FBI documents detailing Dotson's confession, in which he said "a higher power told him to talk to the FBI" and told authorities where to look for Dennehy. The body was found a few days later.
Dotson, who had moved in with Dennehy in May 2003, said he had received threatening telephone calls and that he and Dennehy bought guns for protection.
He told FBI agents that on June 11, 2003, Dennehy pointed a gun at him after the pair went to a gravel pit for target practice. Dennehy's gun jammed, and Dotson said "Father, please forgive me," and shot his friend, he said.
He then drove home to Maryland, throwing the gun in a lake along the way.
The autopsy didn't support his self-defense claim. Dennehy
was shot twice: once above the right ear and once behind it toward the back of the head.
Last fall, Dotson was found incompetent to stand trial and was sent
to a state mental hospital. He was released and returned to jail in February after a hospital psychologist said Dotson was competent but must continue to take anti-psychotic medication.
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Wake up America and smell the nigger.
T.N.B.