Murder Suspect Charged in Baseball Bat Fight In Court Today

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The macon man accused of murdering a woman with a baseball bat over the weekend was in court for the first time today.

49-year-old John Conover shuffled into a back room of the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center where Judge Cedric Leslie read him his rights. Conover waived his right to a commitment hearing.
That’s a court appearance where the suspect has the right to defend himself against his charges.

Conover is charged with murdering his neighbor 46-year-old Alterese Carter. On Friday evening,
Macon police say he hit her in the head with a bat after arguing with carter’s 12-year-old son on Mercer Street.

An eye-witness, and his girlfriend say he’s innocent. Yesterday, they told 41NBC the Carter family started the fight and Conover was defending himself. We caught up with Conover’s girlfriend, Alicia Wilson before the hearing. She just found out about the murder charge around noon today.

“He’s going to get justice. We working on his lawyer right now, and we gonna get justice, and what’s going through my mind I’m very hurt, and it’s not fair and it’s not right for him to be charged with that,” says Wilson.

41NBC obtained a copy of the incident report. The victim’s husband, Leonard Carter, and suspect John Conover both spoke to police.

Conover said Leonard, Alterese, and their two teenage sons attacked him. He says when Ms. Carter swung at him, he grabbed the bat, and started swinging to protect himself.

Leonard carter told police Conover pushed one the boys, and Alterese ran out to stop him. That’s when Leonard says Conover began hitting her in the head, and the boys responded by swinging bats at him. Conover got a hold of one, hit Alterese, and she fell to the ground.

Leonard drove his wife to the Medical Center of Central Georgia where she died Saturday night. Neighbors say the carter’s have not returned to their home on Atlantic Street.