Dominic Carter spent two decades brutalizing his wife, Marilyn, and cared so little for her that he fathered two children out of wedlock, a relative charged yesterday, as the NY1 political anchor stood trial for allegedly punching and choking his spouse in their suburban home last year.
The sensational one-day court proceeding exposed Carter’s hidden private life — painting a sinister side of the usually amiable and incisive interviewer of local politicos that New York City viewers have come to know since 1992.
A judge will issue a verdict next month
LISTEN: CARTER’S WIFE DIALS 911
Carter’s court appearance came as new revelations emerged about the 45-year-old journalist. Among the allegations:
* Marilyn’s brother, Larry Stevens, said Dominic had beaten and verbally abused her for two decades — and that her family has repeatedly begged her to leave him.
Even while allegedly abusing his wife, Carter fathered two children with his high-school sweetheart, one of them a son he named Dominic Jr., said Stevens, a retired cop. Carter also has a son with Marilyn named Dominic.
* Marilyn had told cops Dominic called her “a dumb project bitch” during the alleged Oct. 22 attack at the center of yesterday’s trial.
But when called to the stand yesterday, Marilyn, 52, bizarrely blamed her assault on a mysterious day laborer. She had blamed her hubby at the time, she claimed, only because she was “angry” at him for having an affair.
Meanwhile, the once-respected anchor went on an “indefinite leave of absence,” NY1 General Manager Steve Paulus announced. The station would not comment on a report his contract is up next month.
NY1 had no immediate comment today on another detail that emerged yesterday: Carter’s stunning name-dropping to a judge during a hearing in the case last December, where he blustered that he was a “very high-profile journalist” in a bid to avoid court-ordered counseling.
“My wife was profiled last month in Oprah Winfrey’s magazine. I’ve appeared on the cover of the New York Times and T.V. Guide. This is not fair,” Carter whined.
“New York State Chief Judge Judith Kaye is a personal friend. [Manhattan District Attorney] Bob Morgenthau is a personal friend,” Carter pleaded.
But Judge Arnold Etelson snapped back: “Don’t start dropping names. You know better than that.”
Carter denied that he was name-dropped.
“I wasn’t trying to drop names. I was trying to explain to the judge the sensitivity of the situation given that I have to cover these people. My wish was I wanted it to go away. I covered those people and I couldn’t afford to have these sensitive matters out there,” he claimed.
Carter oozed confidence yesterday as he strode into Ramapo Justice Court, with Marilyn standing dutifully at his side.
“I have never laid a hand on my wife, he declared. “I will be exonerated in court.”
Marilyn spoke still more strongly, insisting, “This is a character assassination against my husband!
“This has caused a lot of pain to my family, but he will be vindicated.”
Sources had told the Post that Marilyn recently moved out after the alleged fight, but she said yesterday they continue living together.
She also claimed her brother was lying when he told reporters earlier yesterday, “It’s been going on for over 20 years, physical abuse, verbal abuse.”
Stevens had insisted that Marilyn “covered it up for many years, and as her kids got older, they started complaining about it. I’ve seen her with a black eye . . . Everyone knew what was going on.”
But Marilyn said of her brother, “It’s disgusting what he’s doing . . . He picked up the paper this morning and saw an opportunity to attack me.”
The Post, in its bombshell report yesterday, detailed multiple police reports of verbal arguments between Carter and his wife, a Manhattan College administrator, in their Pomona home.
In the most recent incident, Carter was charged with misdemeanor assault, carrying a maximum sentence of one year in jail.
Marilyn told cops at the time that he punched her twice in the face, swelling her lip; grabbed her throat while wearing a watch that scratched her ear; punched her arm; and “kicked her in her lower right shin, causing a small cut with minor bleeding,” according to police records.
Yesterday, at Dominic’s trial, prosecutors introduced Marilyn’s 911 call from that stormy night — a call in which violent anonymous day laborers are notably absent.
“I have a domestic violence incident here,” the wife tells the dispatcher.
Asked who was “the other person involved,” she replies, “Dominic Carter,” adding:
“He hit me several times in my face, in my back, in my stomach. All over my body.”
Prosecutors also revealed a written statement Marilyn gave cops after that incident. She claimed Dominic told her that day, “You’re dumb, you’re stupid, you’re retarded … you’re a dumb project bitch, and I have no respect for you” before hitting her.
But when she took the stand yesterday — by order of a prosecution subpoena — Marilyn told a different tale to Judge Etelson, who will decide her husband’s fate.
Marilyn said that earlier that day, she and Dominic had an argument when she told him of a neurologist’s report about their son, Dominic Jr., who suffers from epilepsy. She testified her husband then stormed out.
Speaking in a monotone, Marilyn told the judge, “Like a lot of people in Rockland County, I drove to Route 59 and picked up a day laborer,” with whom she negotiated a rate of $10 per hour for yard work and household repairs.
The laborer did two hours of work and she paid him $50, she said. She said the man got angry anyway, because he wanted more.
The laborer then assaulted her, Marilyn said.
She said when Dominic came home, they drove around looking for the man.
Richard Moran, the prosecutor in the case, scoffed at Marilyn’s account, noting she said nothing about a laborer when she called cops and gave a sworn statement against Dominic.
“We have a victim who does not want to implicate her husband. She was being 100 percent truthful when she made that [911] call,” Moran told the judge.
“It’s obvious that it wasn’t some phantom day laborer.”
At the close of testimony, defense lawyer Martin Gotkin argued for dismissal, saying prosecutors didn’t provide required evidence of serious pain being inflicted. Etelson reserved decision until at least Nov. 19.
Carter stood up and told Etelson, “Your honor, if there is no decision today, my career is over.”
The judge stared coldly at him and said only, “November 19th.”
Outside court, Carter said, “We’re trying to make our marriage work. We’ve had our personal issues.
“When these allegations are made in the court of public opinion, you are guilty until proven innocent,” said Carter, insisting he has repeatedly refused offers to plead guilty to lesser charges.
But Carter’s track record doesn’t look good.
The Post yesterday obtained a 2003 police report in which Marilyn said her husband choked her until she almost passed out.
Authorities also said Marilyn took out an order of protection against him in March 2007 from Rockland County Family Court after another argument at the house.
Carter, who has been with NY1 since its founding in 1992, hosts the nightly show “Inside City Hall.”
He has gone on paid leave at least twice in previous years after alleged physical and verbal altercations with colleagues.
Additional reporting by Carolyn Salazar and Rebecca Rosenberg