NY1 wife abuser Carter now beats himself up

By ANNIE KARNI

Dominic Carter has hit rock bottom.

Two months after the former NY1 political anchor was found guilty of attempted assault for beating, choking and kicking his wife, he spends his days worrying about how to pay his mortgage and agonizing over "how fast things got out of control."

"I don't set the alarm anymore," Carter said in a tearful interview, his first since the attack on his wife was revealed by The Post two months ago. "I wake up. I sit around the house. I read the papers, watch a movie.

CARTER DUE FOR SENTENCING ON JANUARY 14

"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.

Angel Chevrestt/FEELING LOW: These days, shamed TV political anchor Dominic Carter
mostly sits around his Rockland County home, reads newspapers and agonizes over how he "dropped the ball as a man."

"For me to be forced to be home all day, it's like I'm in jail," he said over a breakfast of bacon, Egg Beaters and wheat toast at a diner near his Rockland County home.

"Whether I was at NY1 or promoting a book or delivering a speech somewhere, I was going 16 hours a day," he said. "Now the only good thing is that I'm reflecting on myself."

Later, as he sat with his wife, Marilyn, in the foyer of their two-story home, he winced as he recalled the night that ruined his life, Oct. 22, 2008.

"Our fight started over the medical care of my son, who suffers from severe epilepsy, which is a major issue in our family," said Carter, 45.

He recalled being furious that one of his son's doctors had advised his wife to stop giving the boy a seizure medication.

"I didn't want the prescription to stop before Christmas break," Carter recalled. "The fight started over that."

For Marilyn, 52, this was unwanted interference from a remote, workaholic husband who barely saw his family.

"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 told The Post. "One thing leads to another."

The escalation was part of a long, painful pattern.

"You talk about finances, medical conditions, late nights working, and you become strangers in your own house," said Marilyn, who's been married to the newsman for 25 years.

"Dominic goes to work. I see him 12 hours later. Then he stops and asks me what's going on. It's like 'Where have you been?' "

According to the police report, the dispute ended in violence. Marilyn dialed 911 and said her husband had "hit me several times in my face, my back, all over my body," according to a transcript of the call.

The report said that he punched her twice in the face, grabbed her throat, kicked her in the right shin and punched her in the arm......full article