MIDLAND - Most residents don’t remember her name, but they haven’t forgotten the charges against Lisa Louise Greene.
Greene, 42, is charged with killing her two children, Daniel Macemore, 10, and Addison Macemore, 8, in a house fire on Jan. 10, 2006. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.
Several Midland residents said they were familiar with the case and had formed an opinion about it.
Outside of the Sunday Shop, a popular ice cream and sandwich shop in Midland, less than a mile from where the fire occurred, many customers said finding an impartial jury will be difficult to do.
According to court officials, the jury will consist only of Cabarrus County residents.
Several customers said they have driven past Greene’s former home because they wanted to see it for themselves.
The trailer, located at 10925 Candilara Lane, has switched owners three times since Greene went to jail on Jan. 13, 2006. It’s been renovated and remodeled.
“We had no idea that anything like that had happened here,” said the current owner, who did not want to be identified. “We didn’t find out until a few weeks ago when someone came looking for information on the case.”
The publicity around the case because of the public interest has been the subject of several pretrial motions on who should have jurisdiction to rule in the trial.
In court documents obtained by the Independent Tribune, Greene’s court-appointed attorneys, Lisa Andrew Dubs and Richard Campbell, opposed a motion by Assistant District Attorney Ashlie Shanley that asked Judge Erwin Spainhour, a Cabarrus County Superior Court Judge, to retain jurisdiction over the case.
In the court documents, Shanley said the notoriety, among other things, in the case would best be handled in the county where the offenses took place and the defendant lives.
Dubs and Campbell argued that “heightened interest makes it less appropriate for a judge who is elected in the same community to appoint himself to preside over (the) case.”
Because of the motions, Judge W. Robert Bell (Mecklenburg County) has been in brought to preside over the case.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday. - Josh Lanier
