Atwater pleads not guilty to carjacking

Demario Atwater, one of two suspects charged with murdering UNC-Chapel Hill student leader Eve Carson, pleaded not guilty today to federal carjacking and weapons charges.

The judge scheduled the trial for November 2009, meaning Atwater could remain in federal custody until that time.

Atwater's appearance in the federal courthouse in Winston-Salem today was his first on the federal charges since a grand jury indicted him in October.

Atwater also faces state charges of murder and kidnapping in Orange County.

Under the carjacking charge, federal authorities could seek the death penalty for Atwater, 22. A federal carjacking charge can carry a death sentence if prosecutors can show the crime occurred during the commission of a homicide.

The judge gave federal authorities until March 31 to decide whether they would pursue the death penalty in the case.

Jim Woodall, the district attorney in Orange County, has announced his plans to seek the death penalty for Atwater on the state charges. No Orange County jury has sent anyone to death row since 1973.

Laurence Alvin Lovette, 17, is also charged with the murder and kidnapping of Carson. Because he was 17 at the time of the killing, state prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty in his case.

Investigators say Atwater and Lovette kidnapped Carson on March 5 and forced her to withdraw $1,400 from automated teller machines before they shot her with a .25-caliber handgun and a sawed-off shotgun.