Carrie was locked up in the county jail on the morning of October 21, and she remained in custody until Commissioner Anderson ordered her released on February 24 and sent to the Meadows.
She has since been indicted by a Maricopa County grand jury stemming from the October DUI arrest and is now facing two felony DUI counts and a felony charge for taking the identity of another person.
John Dougherty
Stoudemire was gleeful as he entered his first game of the season.
John Dougherty
Amaré iced his knees after his 20-point, nine-rebound performance against Portland. In his third outing, against New Jersey, he scored zero points in 14 minutes.
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Her next hearing on the latest DUI charge is scheduled for April 11, the same day that Amaré and the Suns travel to Sacramento, California, to play the Kings. No hearing date has been set on the identity theft charge.
A source close to the investigation tells New Times that the county attorney's office is expected to seek a lengthy prison term -- five to seven years -- if Carrie is convicted of the new aggravated DUI charges.
Carrie's DUI trial could begin in June, around the time of the NBA finals.
The Phoenix Suns were well aware of Amaré Stoudemire's childhood hardships.
Stoudemire's inspiring story had been chronicled in an HBO Real Sports special while he was still in high school. It was the classic tale of a determined young man who overcame all odds to succeed in the competitive world of pro sports.
Amaré's father, Hazell, died when he was 12, and his mother struggled to keep the family together in a drug-infested, poor neighborhood in Lake Wales, Florida, south of Orlando. She spent time in and out of jail on mostly theft-related charges while her children often were left to fend for themselves.
"My mom had to do what she could do to survive," Stoudemire told USA Today in a 2002 interview. "That's what made it even tougher. I guess she had to do what she had to do, and that got her incarcerated."
Amaré's older brother by eight years, Hazell Jr. (Amaré swears he's the best basketball player in the family) couldn't escape the mean streets and ended up in a New York prison on drug and sexual-abuse charges.
His older brother, however, never wanted Amaré to turn out as he had. He shielded his little brother from street crime, encouraging him to dedicate himself to sports.
Football was Amaré's first love, but by the time he turned 14, he was 6-foot-6 and could dunk on any of his much older opponents. During this time, he received strong encouragement and support from a local police officer, Burney Hayes, who made bunk space available for Amaré and his younger brother in his trailer.
Hayes also encouraged him to focus on basketball, and Amaré began his single-minded quest for the NBA.
Amaré bounced through six high schools in five years and lost one year of eligibility before finally settling in at Cypress Creek High School near Orlando for his senior year. By this time, Amaré was widely considered to be among the best high school basketball players in the country. He led the unheralded Cypress Creek squad to a winning record and was named Florida's Mr. Basketball for 2002, after averaging 29 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots per game.
Amaré's chances for a college scholarship were dashed after Nike shoe representative and former college coach George Raveling deposited $100 in his mother's jail account. This virtually assured that any university offering Amaré a scholarship would come under NCAA investigation. Amaré had been flirting with the University of Memphis, but after that he set his sights squarely on turning pro.
Many teams were worried that Amaré's unstable family background -- that is, growing up with no father and a mother who was in and out of the slammer -- left him woefully unprepared for the rigors of the NBA. Also, Amaré had surrounded himself with con men and hangers-on who saw a potential multimillion-dollar meal ticket.
One of these men, the Reverend William "Bill" Williams Jr., was a career swindler who cozied up to the then wide-eyed 18-year-old as a professed spiritual and professional adviser. Unknown to the young Stoudemire was that Williams had an extensive criminal background and was about to be sent back to prison.
Amaré didn't learn of Williams' dubious past until a reporter told him.
While Amaré's selection of advisers and friends raised concerns about his judgment, there was no doubt that he had great physical attributes, including a three-foot vertical leap. He was a raw basketball talent whose understanding of the game was lacking only because he had received so little quality coaching.
It took only a few minutes for the Suns' Jerry Colangelo to size up Amaré Stoudemire's potential. After watching him participate in a workout, Colangelo was convinced that Stoudemire was the future of the Suns.
"I told our people: That's our guy," Colangelo recalled to the Associated Press in May 2005. "He just stood out like a diamond."
The Suns worked closely with Amaré's then-agent, John Wolf, to keep him under wraps from other NBA teams in the weeks leading up to the 2002 draft. The Suns had the ninth pick in the first round and when Stoudemire was still available, they signed the high school kid to a three-year, $6 million contract.
