Carlton Dotson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carlton Dotson is a former American college basketball player who is currently serving a 35-year prison term for murdering Patrick Dennehy, one of his teammates.

1 Basketball career
2 Dennehy's murder
3 Trial and appeals
4 Drug use
5 References

[edit] Basketball career

Dotson was a junior power forward on the Baylor University basketball team. He played two seasons at Paris Junior College in Paris, Texas, before transferring to Baylor in the summer of 2002, where he played one season. After the 2002-03 season, Baylor did not renew his scholarship.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Dennehy's murder

In the summer of 2003, Dennehy and Dotson indicated that they were concerned about their safety. ^[1] ^[2] They had purchased two pistols and a rifle and practiced firing them at a farm north of Waco. On June 14, Dennehy told friend Daniel Okopnyi that he was worried about threats made to Dotson by two fellow teammates. Dennehy also indicated that he and Dotson would be at a party the following day at which neither appeared.^{[citation needed]}

Over the next few days, there were indications that something had gone wrong: Dennehy's mother and stepfather, Valorie and Brian Brabazon, were concerned that they had received no calls on Father's Day, Dennehy's roommate, Chris Turk, returned from an out-of-town trip to find that Dennehy's dogs had not been fed in days. On June 19, the Brabazons filed a report with the Waco Police Department that Dennehy was missing.^{[citation needed]}

On June 25, Dennehy's Chevrolet Tahoe SUV was found in the parking lot of a shopping mall in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with its license plates removed.^[2]

An affidavit filed on June 23, which was unsealed on June 30, seeking a search warrant for Dennehy's computer says that an informant in Delaware told police that Dotson, who by now was at home in Hurlock, Maryland, told a cousin that he had shot and killed Dennehy during an argument while firing guns in the Waco area. On July 21, Dotson was charged with murdering Dennehy and taken into custody by Corporal Keith Benton and Sgt. Henry Hernandez of the Dorchester County, Maryland, Sheriff's Office.^{[citation needed]}

The search for Dennehy continued for several weeks until July 25, when a badly-decomposed body was found in a gravel pit near Waco and was taken to Dallas for an autopsy. The following day, medical examiners identified the body as being Patrick Dennehy. On July 30, his death was ruled a homicide after a preliminary autopsy report showed that Dennehy died of gunshot wounds to the head. Dennehy was buried in San Jose, California, on August 7.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Trial and appeals

On October 28, 2004, Dotson was declared incompetent to stand trial by District Judge George Allen and was sent to a state mental hospital to be reevaluated in four months' time. Three psychiatrists, including one appointed by the court, said that Dotson appeared to be suffering from hallucinations and psychosis, but that should he regain competency in the future, he would be made to stand trial.^{[citation needed]}

However, in February 2005, Dotson was returned to jail after psychologists deemed him competent to stand trial but that he must continue taking his anti-psychotic medication. The psychologist also said that Dotson's accounts of hallucinations and hearing voices were "suspect."^{[citation needed]}

On June 8, 2005, five days before his trial for murder was to begin, Dotson unexpectedly pleaded guilty to killing Dennehy. On June 15, Dotson was sentenced to 35 years in prison. ^[1] He will be eligible for parole in 2021, after serving roughly half his sentence. ^[3]

In January 2006, Dotson attempted to appeal his conviction. However, his request for an appeal was denied on the grounds that he surrendered his right to appeal when he pleaded guilty. ^[3]

[edit] Drug use

On August 1, allegations arose from Carlton Dotson's estranged wife, Melissa Kethley, and by Sonya Hart, the mother of another athlete, Paul Hart. They reported that abuse of marijuana and alcohol was rampant in the Baylor basketball program and was subsequently ignored by the athletic department and coaching staff.^{[citation needed]}

Kethley revealed that five or six basketball players would meet at their apartment and smoke marijuana, sometimes before practice. She also witnessed Dotson fake a drug test using urine provided by a drug-free teammate.^{[citation needed]}

Sonya Hart revealed that she had raised concerns about the drug use with associate athletic director Paul Bradshaw, but that no one ever got back in contact with her. President Sloan's investigation also agreed that the staff not only knew about the substance abuse but also failed to follow procedures for reporting drug test failures, with the purpose of allowing players to remain on the team.^{[citation needed]}