By TYRIQ MCCORD

Life can really hit you fast when you are hauling in touchdowns on Sunday afternoons one day and serving up to a 20 year prison sentence the next.

But former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth is now a free man after being behind bars for 19 years. Carruth hired a hitman back in November 1999 to murder his then 24-year-old girlfriend Cherica Adams. Adams was eight months pregnant at the time when Carruth conspired the plan.

Adams and Carruth went to see a movie and when the movie concluded both parties were leaving in separate vehicles. When Adams was trying to leave, Carruth pulled up blocking Adams car in so she could not move. The hitman made his move, firing four shots that all struck to Adams. She had enough strength to call the authorities as well as a hospital where they performed a C section and save her child. Unfortunately Adams did not survive, passing away four days later. Carruth was convicted in 2001 for conspiracy to commit murder.

The NFL has already banned Carruth jerseys that some people are trying create through custom jerseys on NFLShop.com. Attempts to enter the jersey as a custom order are now met with an immediate warning that reads “We are unable to customize this item with the text you have entered. Please try a different entry.” It’s the same safeguard the site has put in place to block Aaron Hernandez and O.J. Simpson jerseys as well as those created with swear words, or hate terms.

Carruth is now currently in Pennsylvania under Pennsylvania Parole Board supervision, adjusting to life as a free man.