Mahato evidence to be presented in Lovette trial

Evidence surrounding the alleged murder of Duke graduate student Abhijit Mahato will be admissible in the trial of Laurence Lovette, who is being charged with first-degree murder in the death of former UNC student body president Eve Carson.

Lovette is also accused of murdering Mahato, an engineering graduate student who was shot and killed in his home at the Anderson Apartments near West Campus Jan. 18, 2008, though the case has not yet been resolved.

Lovette pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charge and four other charges in the Carson case Nov. 17.

Orange County Criminal Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour ruled Monday that evidence in the Mahato case can be introduced in the Carson trial, the Herald-Sun reported earlier this week. The ruling came after Lovette’s attorneys Kevin Bradley and Karen Bethea-Shields requested that the evidence be excluded from the trial, arguing that the murders of Carson and Mahato were not related enough to warrant allowing evidence from the latter case.

The defense also said that aspects of the Mahato case could confuse and prejudice the Orange County jury against Lovette, she said.

“We’re not trying the Durham case,” Bethea-Shields told the Herald-Sun. “We’re trying the case here in Orange County.”

The prosecution, however, demonstrated similarities between the Mahato and the Carson cases and said that the Mahato evidence will help establish a theory of what happened in the time before Carson was killed. Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall also noted the similar manner of death in both cases—Carson and Mahato were college students who were shot in the head and robbed.

Lovette, who was 17-years-old when Carson was kidnapped and killed, cannot receive the death penalty if found guilty. Lovette’s co-defendant Demario Atwater, who was also charged with kidnapping, robbing and killing Carson, is currently incarcerated in federal prison after pleading guilty to the murder charge in 2010.