Former UA track coach Craig Carter found guilty, faces 5-23 years in prison

A Pima County jury has found former UA track and field coach Craig Carter guilty on charges of aggravated assault and assault with a dangerous instrument, nearly three years after Carter threatened one of his athletes with a box cutter in his McKale Center office.  

Carter was taken into custody shortly after 5 p.m. Friday. He'll be sentenced on May 14.

Carter, 50, faces between five and 23 years in prison. 

On April 20, 2015, Carter grabbed former UA thrower Baillie Gibson by the neck and threatened to cut her face with a box cutter he pulled out of his pocket. The two were involved in a sexual relationship at the time. 

"She's safe — he's in jail now," said said Lynne Cadigan, one of Gibson's attorneys. "We're happy with the outcome." 

Carter's attorneys painted Gibson as out for money during the three-day trial. Carter kept his head down as the verdict was read; after being told that he would be taken into custody, Carter pointed to Gibson and said something. 

Prosecutor Julie Sottosanti walked the jury through the events on the day in question during Friday's closing arguments, saying that Gibson wanted out of the relationship, but "wasn't allowed to make those kinds of decisions for herself."

Sottosanti reminded the jury that in addition to the sexual relationship, there was still the coach-athlete relationship, where Carter wielded significant control over Gibson. Carter first began recruiting Gibson to join the Wildcats when she was a junior in high school, and worked with her daily during the season.  

Defense attorneys for Carter brought up inconsistencies in Gibson's version of events and the nature of her relationship with Carter, but all of that was simply a distraction, Sottosanti said.

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"All that matters is what happened in that office," she said. "This is not a he-said, she-said case. This is a they-said case. This is an everyone-said case."

Sottosanti again played the video of Carter's confession to UA police, then reviewed the statutory guidelines for aggravated assault. 

Carter "held a box cutter to her face, he told her he was going to cut her up and he did it while he was pinning her down to a couch by her neck," Sottosanti said. "His version of events line up with hers and both those versions of events make him guilty of these crimes.”

Carter's attorney, Dan Cooper, said that there was no question that his client did several things that he shouldn't have done — but violating Arizona law was not one of them.

The statute for aggravated assault requires that Gibson be in "reasonable apprehension" of harm and that Carter acted with intent. Neither of those applied to that situation, Cooper said. Carter didn't have time to form intent before he grabbed her throat and pulled out the box cutter, the attorney said. And Gibson also didn't have reasonable apprehension when she went to his office alone that afternoon.

“There’s no reason you have to accept that she had one ounce of fear when she went in there, because she didn’t behave that way," Cooper said. "You don’t walk into a bear’s den and poke him in the eye.”

Cooper repeatedly accused Gibson and witness Julie Labonté of lying on the stand and making up events for a "money grab." Several months after reporting Carter to police, Gibson filed a civil lawsuit against Carter and the University of Arizona.

“Craig behaved horribly. Whatever price he pays for that, he’ll deal with," Cooper said. "What he didn’t do is what the state has accused him of doing.”

Cooper then made a second request for a mistrial, which was denied.