Reuters / Pool
Ex-NFL player Rae Carruth has been released from prison after spending nearly two decades behind bars on charges related to the murder of his girlfriend who was eight months pregnant. Carruth, a wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers between 1997 and 1999, was sentenced to between 18 and 24 years in 2001 after a jury found him guilty of conspiring to murder his partner Cherica Adams. Prosecutors said Carruth hired two men to kill Adams in November 1999, and used his vehicle to block Adams' car while one of the men opened fire on her. She died four weeks after the shooting—her son, Chancellor Lee Adams, was born via a cesarean section with severe injuries. Now 18, he lives with his maternal grandmother and has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Carruth previously said he hopes to “make things right” with both of them once he's released.