Thursday, October 29, 2009

Kin makes shocking disclosure as Carte's abuse trial gets under way

By LIZ SADLER and DAN MANGAN

Last Updated: 2:23 PM, October 29, 2009

(FP note: It seemsthat the two of them are alike}.


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NY1 political anchor Dominic Carter’s brother-in-law today said Carter has physically and verbally abused his wife for years – and while married fathered two children out of wedlock with his high school sweetheart.

"It been going on for over 20 years, physical abuse, verbal abuse. It’s been kind of messed up for years," said Larry Stevens, 62, a retired police officer whose sister, Marilyn, is married to Carter.

"It’s been an ongoing thing, Marilyn covered it up for many years, and as her kids got older they started complaining about it," Stevens said at his Queens residence "I’ve seen her with a black eye . . . everyone knew what was going on."

Stevens spoke to reporters hours after The Post revealed that Carter, 46, was arrested last year for assaulting Marilyn, a case that is going to trial in a local Rockland County court today. Several other police reports described cops going to the Carters’ Pomona, NY, residence in response to domestic disputes between the couple, who today denied he was physically abusive.

Dominic Carter denied the accusations.

"I will be exhonorated. Domestic violence is a serious issue that me and my wife do not take likely. I was not home at time. I was never taken into custody. I was never questioned."

However, the Rockland County Sheriff's Department and Town of Ramapo Police said that an order of protection was issued against Dominic at the request of Marilyn Carter in March 2007, and that that order expried three months later. The sheriff's department said that the order was served on Dominick in Rockland Family Court.

Marilyn, when asked about her brother's comments, said, "It’s disgusting what he’s doing. He picked up the paper this morning and saw an opportunity to attack me."

"Larry is striking back because I was taking him back to court over property in Harlem that was left to me and my siblings by our parents."

"I have not spoken to him in years. He's making false accusations to get back at me."

MORE: CARTER DENIES ASSAULT ON WIFE

Stevens said both of them are not telling the truth about Dominic’s conduct.

"H was a nice guy at first, but he just got, I don’t know, with fame and money, maybe it got worse," Steven said.

"They lived with my mother for many years in Harlem, so my mother was a witness to the abuse," Steven said. "And she tried to talk Marilyn into leaving, but she wouldn’t leave."

"I tried to get Marilyn to get a divorce and she wouldn’t leave him," he said. "We offered financial help and everything else to leave."

Stevens said that he and another sister of Marilyn’s have not talked to Marilyn for several years.

"Me and her older sister was getting on her about getting a divorce many years ago. And because of the marriage, she didn’t want to get a divorce, and she wanted to break ties with us."

Stevens said that he aware that Dominic, while married to Marilyn, fathered two children by his high-school sweetheart – a son and a daughter.

"There’s another family," Stevens said.

Stevens said that the son of that relationship was named Dominic Jr. – the same name of the son Marilyn Carter had by Dominic.

Marilyn also has a daughter by Dominic.

Stevens, when asked what Marilyn thought about her husband having a second family, said, "I don’t think she was OK with it but she stayed in that relationship"

A woman who knew the Carters when they lived in Harlem said that when she first met Marilyn years ago, "She was beautiful, a really happy girl -- she lived here with her family."

"Then she got married, she lost a lot of weight, got real puny," said the former neighbor, Ruth Brown, 80. "She didn't look good. She liked someone who was being abused."

"She got real unhappy. I discussed it with my daughter and a neighbor. We all thought she was such a lovely girl and when she got married she lost so much weight and lost her vitality. We knew something just wasn't right," Brown said.


Hot-headed NY1 political anchor Dominic Carter is due in court today after being accused by his wife of punching, choking and kicking her in their suburban home, The Post has learned.

Cops were called to the Carters' Rockland County house four times in the last two years for domestic disputes, police records show.

The most violent incident -- in which Carter, 46, was arrested for assault -- occurred Oct. 22, 2008.

That night, Marilyn told cops, Dominic twice punched her in the face, "causing a swollen bottom lip," and grabbed her around her throat, "causing scratches and minor bleeding from behind her left ear," police records show.

HUSBAND & STRIFE: NY1's Dominic Carter, with wife Marilyn, allegedly beat her at their Rockland home (inset).
Naswnyc.org
HUSBAND & STRIFE: NY1's Dominic Carter, with wife Marilyn, allegedly beat her at their Rockland home (inset).

Dominic also repeatedly punched her in the right upper arm and "kicked her in her lower right shin, causing a small cut with minor bleeding," the records said.

Marilyn Carter, 52, in recent days moved out of the couple's Pomona home, sources said. They also said Dominic Carter is scheduled to appear today in Rockland County Family Court.

The domestic incidents came just after the anchor published a book, "No Momma's Boy," which revealed physical and sexual abuse he suffered as a young boy in The Bronx at the hands of his schizophrenic mother, who tried to strangle him as an infant.

Neither Carter nor his wife responded to calls seeking comment.

NY1 General Manager Steve Paulus said, "This is a domestic matter involving one of our employees and it's our policy not to comment."

Hours after The Post's inquiries, Carter was noticeably absent from his seat hosting "Inside City Hall" last night.

Carter, who moderated the Oct. 13 mayoral debate between Mayor Bloomberg and Comptroller Bill Thompson, joined NY1 when Time Warner launched the channel in 1992.

Since then, he has interviewed virtually every big-name New York politician and made "Inside City Hall" must-see TV for local political junkies.

In 1997, he was told to take a few days off after getting into a shoving match with an editor.

Carter married Marilyn in 1985 after graduating from SUNY Cortland, where they had secretly dated while he was a student and she was an administrator at the school, he wrote in his book. They have two children.

In 2007, their home life became increasingly rocky, and began drawing the attention of Ramapo town police, who patrol Pomona.

On March 14, 2007, the Carters' daughter, Courtney, then 19, called 911 after her parents had an argument, a police report says.

"Dominic fled the scene prior to [police officers'] arrival," according to the report.

Marilyn told cops that she and Dominic had "a verbal dispute" earlier in the day, and that it began again after she returned to the home after leaving for a while.

"Marilyn states Dominic became agitated and began yelling and cursing at her," said the report.

No one was injured in that case, and no arrests were made.

Nearly a year later, on March 8, 2008, Ramapo cops again were called to the Carter residence.

"Marilyn reports that her husband . . . has been out of the house for a couple of days, and tonight, he took the kids to the movies and they came back and they had a verbal argument and she wants him to leave," police wrote.

"She was concerned due to the fact that he has gotten physical in the past," the report said. Police said Dominic agreed to leave the house to avoid further dispute.

But the next day, cops again were called to the Carter home -- this time by Dominic.

The newsman, in a written statement for police, said Marilyn "refused to open the door to the house to me."

He wrote that "my wife lied to the officers [and] said I hit her" during the call of the prior day.

Marilyn then "left the scene and advised she will be staying at a friend's house until future time. Mr. Carter advised he will seek a divorce," the police report said.

Additional reporting by Perry Chiaramonte and Candace Amos

dan.mangan@nypost.com

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