JUDGE THROWS OUT PULASKI DRUG CASE

Edward Lee Carter Was Arrested Last Year After Police Found 16-year-old
Gaelen Wood Dead

PULASKI - A circuit court judge on Tuesday tossed out the prosecutor's
evidence in the trial of a Pulaski man charged with distributing cocaine to
a minor, ending a year-long case that involved the drug-overdose suicide of
a 16-year-old girl.

Edward Lee Carter, 32, was arrested in May 2002 and charged with
second-degree murder and distributing cocaine to a minor after police found
Gaelen Wood dead in her mother's house on Jefferson Avenue. Police found
traces of cocaine and a pen casing used as a straw near her body. They also
found a suicide note.

During a preliminary hearing last August, Pulaski Commonwealth's Attorney
Mike Fleenor dropped the murder charge, but the distribution charge was
sent to circuit court. Carter waived his right to a jury trial and instead
sat in front of Judge Colin Gibb as Fleenor put forth his

case Monday afternoon.

Fleenor maintained that Wood's friend, Whitney Friend, had arranged for
Wood to buy about an eighth of an ounce of cocaine from Carter for $250.
Friend testified to that fact, which phone records corroborated. But she
added that she never saw any money or drugs change hands when Carter drove
to her home to meet Wood. She said she then took Wood to her boyfriend's
house. About six hours later, Wood died. Fleenor's evidence also included a
diary in which Wood wrote about her drug problem and her intent to commit
suicide with cocaine.

Carter's attorney, Everett Shockley, moved to have the evidence thrown out
because no one saw any money or drugs exchanged, and he said that Wood had
ample time to find drugs from someone else before she died.

On Tuesday morning, after consulting related cases, Gibb ruled in favor of
Carter. Gibb noted the six-hour gap in time, "where we just don't know what
[Wood] was doing," in his decision.

"It's troubling and difficult," Gibb said. "But suspicion or probability of
guilt is not enough for conviction."

After the case was thrown out, Carter was met with hugs and words of
support from friends and family members.

"I'm sorry that girl died," Carter said. "But I thought the whole thing was
just crazy. They never had any evidence."

If convicted, he would have faced a mandatory five-year sentence and
possibly as much as 40 years. In an unrelated case, Carter pleaded guilty
last November to one felony count of cocaine distribution. The judge
suspended all but five months of a 10-year sentence in that case.