Hoping For Hie Beat “No sir,” Dennis answered. “It

Hoping For Hie Beat

“No sir,” Dennis answered. “It was strange ... I was hoping he wouldn’t do anything. He had his choice—to do it or not to do it. I was hoping for the best.”

Defense attorney Biddle then interjected a final question to Dennis. He asked if Carter had talked with him on the trip back from Ed Stark’s house to the party.

“He said don’t be scared, I’m not going to hurt you,” Dennis answered. While Carter did not mention Gatewood or Starks by name, Dennis reported the defendant was laughing and “said he might do it.”

Reginald Gatewood testified that a conversation outside between Carter and several other unidentified persons attending the party got “sort of loud” with Carter appearing “sort of upset”. Gatewood said he thought then that Carter was disappointed in his girlfriend, Anna Rose Gatewood. He added that since he’d heard Carter had another girl friend from Front Royal at the time of the party.

Gatewood continued that Carter said over and over again he had “a point to prove”, that he seemed to be “just a little upset maybe.”

Gatewood testified that he had seen Carter get over the fence in Haywood Turner’s drive an<^ come towards Starks’s car with a long gun in his hand. Carter walked in front of the car and Starks stopped. Then, said Gatewood, the door to he driver’s side came open and the two men appeared to exchange a few words.

Gatewood testified that Carter had his gun pointed towards the car when Gatewood heard a shot. He said he went back inside and told Turner that he’d “seen Carter shoot Randolph . . I heard a second shot as we went out the back door.”

Supporting Turner’s previous testimony, Gatewood said he’d heard Turner ask “Why did you do it?” and Carter’s reply that he’d “proved his point.”

“Proved His Point”

“I asked Frank why did he do it,” Gatewood added. “He laughed at me and said he’d proved his point.”