Deanna's Daydreamer
04-25-2010, 11:46 AM
Chad Green trial pushed to 2010
http://www.jonesborosun.com/archived_story.php?ID=37620
By George Jared
NEWPORT — Charles “Chad” Green is tentatively slated to go to trial in February for his role in the killing of a Dalton family more than a decade ago.
Green and his father, Billy Green, appeared before Circuit Court Judge Harold Erwin on Wednesday in Newport. Clad in white prison suits, both men smiled and appeared to be upbeat as they entered the courtroom. At one point Billy Green smiled and winked toward a person he knew in the hallway.
The Greens are accused of killing Carl and Lisa Elliot and the couple’s two children, Gregory and Felicia, in July 1998. Both were scheduled to go to trial in May, but Chad Green’s defense attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig said it was an “unrealistically rapid date.”
Billy Green received death sentences in 2004 for the killings after his son testified against him. Chad Green received 40 years for his part in the murders and unrelated rape charges.
The Arkansas Supreme Court reversed Billy Green’s conviction, and a new trial was ordered. Chad Green has refused to testify against his father at the new trial, prompting prosecutors to pursue murder and rape charges against him.
Defense attorneys for Chad Green argued charges couldn’t be refiled against their client, citing double jeopardy laws. But the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in March that Green’s refusal to testify breaks the original plea agreement, and the original charges could be reinstated.
Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce said he will seek death sentences against the Greens. It still hasn’t been determined whether the men will be tried together or separately.
Billy Green’s pretrial hearing was postponed until September.
In August Chad Green is slated to go on trial for two unrelated rape charges involving a minor female, court officials said. Penalties for the rape charges had been rolled into Chad Green’s original murder plea agreement, Boyce said.
But when he refused to testify against his father a second time, those charges were reinstated, the prosecutor said.
A bad drug deal in which Carl Elliot allegedly stole marijuana plants from Billy Green led to the killings, according to authorities.
Chad Green allegedly lured Elliot out of his home July 29, 1998, to a sandbar on the Eleven Point River where his father shot the man in the back of the head, according to police. The Greens then went to the Elliot’s house where they beat {his wife} Lisa and {her 7 year old son} Gregory Elliot to death with tire irons.
Police say the men kidnapped Felicia Elliot. Her remains were found near Billy Green’s Randolph County home in 2000.
----------------------------------------------
By George Jared
The Jonesboro Sun
http://arkansasnews.com/2010/04/22/former-death-row-inmate-wants-case-dismissed/
POCAHONTAS — A Randolph County man who once sat on death row for the 1998 slayings of a Dalton family may not be retried after the original sentence was nullified by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The capital murder trial for Billy Green was slated to start in May, but he will ask Arkansas’ highest court for a dismissal, defense attorney James “Jim” Wyatt said. Circuit Court Judge Harold Erwin granted a stay in the case Wednesday after rejecting the same dismissal motion.
Prosecutors failed to give Green’s original defense attorneys information a private investigator collected during an interview with Charles “Chad” Green, his son, in the months leading up to the trial.
Chad Green testified in May 2004 that his father killed Carl and Lisa Elliot and their two children, Gregory, 6, and Felicia, 8, near Dalton over a drug deal gone wrong on July 29, 1998.
Those statements contradict an interview he did in February 2004 with private investigator Marvin Russell, who was working at the behest of Chad Green’s then-attorney, Larry Kissee of Ash Flat.
In the interview Chad Green claimed he shot Carl Elliot on a bridge spanning the Eleven Point River and tossed his body into the waterway. He further testified he beat Gregory and Lisa to death with a tire iron
and drowned {8 year old} Felicia Elliot in a creek a couple of days later.
“This doesn’t look good,” Erwin said to prosecutors about the undisclosed information during a pre-trial hearing for Green.
Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce of Newport said when he received the information from Kissee, he thought it wasn’t relevant or admissible in court. The interview contradicted multiple prior statements Chad Green had given to police, Boyce said.
He did admit not disclosing it to the defense team was a mistake.
“The whole thing was completely inadvertent,” Boyce said. He later added, “I submit to the appellate court there was plenty of evidence that would have convicted Mr. Green.”
With the interview information, Wyatt said the defense team could have presented the conflicting stories for the jury to consider. Boyce asked Erwin to issue a gag order, preventing media from reporting about the Chad Green interview, but the judge rejected the motion.
Billy Green received a death sentence for his role in the slayings, and his son, who testified he was present when the killings happened, got 40 years in prison.
The Arkansas Supreme Court overturned Billy Green’s conviction in 2007 because a witness testified she was scared of Billy Green.
Erwin cautioned the jury at the time to disregard the statement, but the court ruled a mistrial should have been issued.
Green is serving a life sentence for unrelated drug convictions and is not eligible for parole in those cases, authorities said.
Chad Green is now refusing to testify against his father.
Prosecutors vacated the plea agreement with Chad Green and charged him with four counts of capital murder. His trial is slated for July.
If the Arkansas Supreme Court rejects Billy Green’s motion, he is slated for trial in September.
It’s not known when the high court will issue a ruling.
Noticeable thinner, Billy Green appeared in court Wednesday wearing 2-toned gray prison garb.
Carl Elliot’s mother, Martha, watched intensely as Green entered the courtroom, and at one point her body started shaking.
“You don’t want to know how this feels,” she said.
“This is part of the steps to get to justice,” Green said at the defense table.
Carl Elliot’s sister, Kathy Hart, the witness who testified that she was scared of Billy Green, said her family is devastated the cases are still ongoing after almost 12 years.
“This whole thing is just shocking,” Hart said. “It’s just so tortuous.”
-------------------------------------------
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6354822.html
NEWPORT, Ark. — A death sentence will be sought instead of a 40-year term in prison handed out as part of a plea bargain for a defendant's testimony against his father in the slayings of four members of a Dalton family in 1998, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Charles "Chad" Green and his father, Billy Green — who was earlier sentenced to death, but obtained a retrial on appeal — appeared Wednesday before Circuit Court Judge Harold Erwin.
Erwin tentatively set a February trial for the younger Green.
Prosecutor Henry Boyce said he would seek the death penalty for both father and son. No decision has been made on whether the two will be tried together or separately. Billy Green's pre-trial hearing was postponed until September.
Chad Green is slated to go on trial in August on two unrelated rape charges involving a minor female that had earlier been rolled into the now-cancelled plea deal in the murder case, court officials said.
The Greens are accused of killing Carl and Lisa Elliot and the couple's two children, Gregory, 7, and Felicia, 8, in July 1998. Both were scheduled to go to trial in May, but Chad Green's defense attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig, said that was unrealistically soon.
The state Supreme Court ruled March 5 that the plea deal involving Chad Green could be set aside and capital murder charges reinstated after he declined to talk with prosecutors about testifying against his father at a retrial.
At a 2004 trial, witnesses testified that Billy Green had fought with Carl Elliott over stolen marijuana plants and was high on methamphetamine when the family was attacked the night of July 29, 1998.
Witnesses said Carl Elliott was shot, and Billy Green beat Lisa and {7 year old} son Gregory to death with a tire iron.
The Greens kept Elliot's {8 year old} daughter alive for two days inside a trash can with her hands, feet and mouth bond with duct tape, witnesses said.
-------------------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZDmt9ZbRK4
http://www.jonesborosun.com/archived_story.php?ID=37620
By George Jared
NEWPORT — Charles “Chad” Green is tentatively slated to go to trial in February for his role in the killing of a Dalton family more than a decade ago.
Green and his father, Billy Green, appeared before Circuit Court Judge Harold Erwin on Wednesday in Newport. Clad in white prison suits, both men smiled and appeared to be upbeat as they entered the courtroom. At one point Billy Green smiled and winked toward a person he knew in the hallway.
The Greens are accused of killing Carl and Lisa Elliot and the couple’s two children, Gregory and Felicia, in July 1998. Both were scheduled to go to trial in May, but Chad Green’s defense attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig said it was an “unrealistically rapid date.”
Billy Green received death sentences in 2004 for the killings after his son testified against him. Chad Green received 40 years for his part in the murders and unrelated rape charges.
The Arkansas Supreme Court reversed Billy Green’s conviction, and a new trial was ordered. Chad Green has refused to testify against his father at the new trial, prompting prosecutors to pursue murder and rape charges against him.
Defense attorneys for Chad Green argued charges couldn’t be refiled against their client, citing double jeopardy laws. But the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in March that Green’s refusal to testify breaks the original plea agreement, and the original charges could be reinstated.
Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce said he will seek death sentences against the Greens. It still hasn’t been determined whether the men will be tried together or separately.
Billy Green’s pretrial hearing was postponed until September.
In August Chad Green is slated to go on trial for two unrelated rape charges involving a minor female, court officials said. Penalties for the rape charges had been rolled into Chad Green’s original murder plea agreement, Boyce said.
But when he refused to testify against his father a second time, those charges were reinstated, the prosecutor said.
A bad drug deal in which Carl Elliot allegedly stole marijuana plants from Billy Green led to the killings, according to authorities.
Chad Green allegedly lured Elliot out of his home July 29, 1998, to a sandbar on the Eleven Point River where his father shot the man in the back of the head, according to police. The Greens then went to the Elliot’s house where they beat {his wife} Lisa and {her 7 year old son} Gregory Elliot to death with tire irons.
Police say the men kidnapped Felicia Elliot. Her remains were found near Billy Green’s Randolph County home in 2000.
----------------------------------------------
By George Jared
The Jonesboro Sun
http://arkansasnews.com/2010/04/22/former-death-row-inmate-wants-case-dismissed/
POCAHONTAS — A Randolph County man who once sat on death row for the 1998 slayings of a Dalton family may not be retried after the original sentence was nullified by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The capital murder trial for Billy Green was slated to start in May, but he will ask Arkansas’ highest court for a dismissal, defense attorney James “Jim” Wyatt said. Circuit Court Judge Harold Erwin granted a stay in the case Wednesday after rejecting the same dismissal motion.
Prosecutors failed to give Green’s original defense attorneys information a private investigator collected during an interview with Charles “Chad” Green, his son, in the months leading up to the trial.
Chad Green testified in May 2004 that his father killed Carl and Lisa Elliot and their two children, Gregory, 6, and Felicia, 8, near Dalton over a drug deal gone wrong on July 29, 1998.
Those statements contradict an interview he did in February 2004 with private investigator Marvin Russell, who was working at the behest of Chad Green’s then-attorney, Larry Kissee of Ash Flat.
In the interview Chad Green claimed he shot Carl Elliot on a bridge spanning the Eleven Point River and tossed his body into the waterway. He further testified he beat Gregory and Lisa to death with a tire iron
and drowned {8 year old} Felicia Elliot in a creek a couple of days later.
“This doesn’t look good,” Erwin said to prosecutors about the undisclosed information during a pre-trial hearing for Green.
Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce of Newport said when he received the information from Kissee, he thought it wasn’t relevant or admissible in court. The interview contradicted multiple prior statements Chad Green had given to police, Boyce said.
He did admit not disclosing it to the defense team was a mistake.
“The whole thing was completely inadvertent,” Boyce said. He later added, “I submit to the appellate court there was plenty of evidence that would have convicted Mr. Green.”
With the interview information, Wyatt said the defense team could have presented the conflicting stories for the jury to consider. Boyce asked Erwin to issue a gag order, preventing media from reporting about the Chad Green interview, but the judge rejected the motion.
Billy Green received a death sentence for his role in the slayings, and his son, who testified he was present when the killings happened, got 40 years in prison.
The Arkansas Supreme Court overturned Billy Green’s conviction in 2007 because a witness testified she was scared of Billy Green.
Erwin cautioned the jury at the time to disregard the statement, but the court ruled a mistrial should have been issued.
Green is serving a life sentence for unrelated drug convictions and is not eligible for parole in those cases, authorities said.
Chad Green is now refusing to testify against his father.
Prosecutors vacated the plea agreement with Chad Green and charged him with four counts of capital murder. His trial is slated for July.
If the Arkansas Supreme Court rejects Billy Green’s motion, he is slated for trial in September.
It’s not known when the high court will issue a ruling.
Noticeable thinner, Billy Green appeared in court Wednesday wearing 2-toned gray prison garb.
Carl Elliot’s mother, Martha, watched intensely as Green entered the courtroom, and at one point her body started shaking.
“You don’t want to know how this feels,” she said.
“This is part of the steps to get to justice,” Green said at the defense table.
Carl Elliot’s sister, Kathy Hart, the witness who testified that she was scared of Billy Green, said her family is devastated the cases are still ongoing after almost 12 years.
“This whole thing is just shocking,” Hart said. “It’s just so tortuous.”
-------------------------------------------
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6354822.html
NEWPORT, Ark. — A death sentence will be sought instead of a 40-year term in prison handed out as part of a plea bargain for a defendant's testimony against his father in the slayings of four members of a Dalton family in 1998, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Charles "Chad" Green and his father, Billy Green — who was earlier sentenced to death, but obtained a retrial on appeal — appeared Wednesday before Circuit Court Judge Harold Erwin.
Erwin tentatively set a February trial for the younger Green.
Prosecutor Henry Boyce said he would seek the death penalty for both father and son. No decision has been made on whether the two will be tried together or separately. Billy Green's pre-trial hearing was postponed until September.
Chad Green is slated to go on trial in August on two unrelated rape charges involving a minor female that had earlier been rolled into the now-cancelled plea deal in the murder case, court officials said.
The Greens are accused of killing Carl and Lisa Elliot and the couple's two children, Gregory, 7, and Felicia, 8, in July 1998. Both were scheduled to go to trial in May, but Chad Green's defense attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig, said that was unrealistically soon.
The state Supreme Court ruled March 5 that the plea deal involving Chad Green could be set aside and capital murder charges reinstated after he declined to talk with prosecutors about testifying against his father at a retrial.
At a 2004 trial, witnesses testified that Billy Green had fought with Carl Elliott over stolen marijuana plants and was high on methamphetamine when the family was attacked the night of July 29, 1998.
Witnesses said Carl Elliott was shot, and Billy Green beat Lisa and {7 year old} son Gregory to death with a tire iron.
The Greens kept Elliot's {8 year old} daughter alive for two days inside a trash can with her hands, feet and mouth bond with duct tape, witnesses said.
-------------------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZDmt9ZbRK4