This time next year, Rae Carruth will likely be a free man, and he could be spending time with the son he once wanted dead.

In an incredible piece from Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer, the grandmother of Carruth's son - Saundra Adams - said she has forgiven the one time Panthers wide receiver for his conspiracy to commit murder on her daughter in 1999.

Carruth, the team's 1997 first-round pick, is scheduled to be released from prison on Oct. 22, 2018. Carruth was sentenced to 18-24 years of prison in 1999, charged with conspiracy to commit murder on his-then pregnant girlfriend Cherica Adams.

Adams was shot four times in mid-November and died in December of 1999, but the child was born prematurely - and although he suffered permanent brain damage - he will turn 18 on Nov. 16 under the care of his grandmother after all these years.

But Saundra Adams told Fowler she and her special-needs grandson - Chancellor Lee Adams - plan to meet with Carruth the day he gets out of jail, despite not having contact since Chancellor Lee was a year old.

“Forgiveness is for me,” Saundra Adams said. “It’s so I can love unconditionally. And I think my grandson deserves unconditional love, because that’s what he gives. It’s total, unconditional love. If I did not forgive Rae, it would block that flow. So many times parents hold animosity toward one of the other parents and they take it out subconsciously on the children. I never wanted that to happen.”

You can read the rest of the story here.