NY1 Anchor on Trial for Domestic Abuse

By JIM FITZGERALD

Updated 6:15 PM EST, Thu, Oct 29, 2009

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Television anchor Dominic Carter went to trial on charges he hit his wife a year ago at their suburban New York City home, although his wife said Thursday that the assault didn't happen.

Carter, 46, host of NY1's cable television show "Inside City Hall," faces as much as a year in prison if convicted of a misdemeanor assault charge, Rockland County prosecutor Richard Moran said.

His show features some of the biggest names in state and city politics and he recently moderated the first of two mayoral debates.

Marilyn Carter told police that Carter hit her at their Pomona home in October 2008, Moran said.

Outside Ramapo Town Court on Thursday, Carter said that the charges aren't true and that he had refused several offers for a plea bargain.

"If I did something wrong, I would plead," Carter said.

His wife, Marilyn, also said Carter should not have to face the assault charge in court.

"Husbands and wives have disagreements. We had a disagreement. He did not hit me," she said. "He's a nonviolent person. His character is being assassinated. Something private has now become public."

Carter has been with NY1 since the cable channel was launched in 1992, interviewing every major politician in the city and state and political figures including the late Cardinal John O'Connor and
Caroline Kennedy. He moderated the first of two debates in the city mayor's race this fall.

In 2007, he published a memoir, "No Momma's Boy," describing childhood abuse at the hands of his mentally ill mother while growing up in the Bronx.

"This is a domestic matter involving one of our employees, and it's our policy not to comment,'' NY1's general manager, Steve Paulus, said in a statement Thursday.