In his first interview since being convicted of attempted assault for beating, choking, and kicking his wife, former NY1 political anchor Dom Carter told the Post about how depressed he has been. "I don't set the alarm anymore," he told the tabloid over a breakfast of bacon, Egg Beaters, and wheat toast at a diner near his Rockland County residence. "I wake up. I sit around the house. I read the papers, watch a movie. Sometimes I cry a lot, but I try not to do it around my kids ... I've had time to reflect on my life — and on how I dropped the ball as a man."
The 45-year-old journalist said the altercation with his wife started over a dispute about medical care for their son, who is epileptic. After a doctor advised his wife, Marilyn, to stop giving the boy seizure medication, Carter argued they shouldn't cut the prescription. Marilyn — who initially called police on her husband though later told a judge that she was attacked by a day laborer — considered Carter's objections as "unwanted interference from a remote, workaholic husband who barely saw his family," the tabloid reports. "When you have a husband who knows his son has epilepsy but can't make the doctors' appointments or is very short of patience on the phone because he's got to make a deadline, you start saying things," she said. "One thing leads to another."
Carter would not comment to the Post about what happened during the 2008 incident because he is appealing the verdict, but he acknowledged that there were other times when their arguments "got out of control." He blames the incident on the fact he never really dealt with the abuse he faced as a child at the hands of his mother. "I didn't have time to focus on me and my issues," he said. "I thought I could wipe my past away. I should have dealt with this stuff a long time ago. Now I just want to be a better person." Carter will be sentenced on Jan. 14 and could face up to three months in prison, but even if he stays out of jail, things aren't looking good for the unemployed newsman. "Our personal finances are very, very tough right now," he said. "I'm officially unemployed, and I now have a criminal record. What do I do? It's a strong possibility we may have to give up the house."
