Thursday, November 29, 2007

Judge asks for Christmas deadline in Greene Trial

The Cabarrus County Sheriff’s deputy in charge of collecting evidence from Lisa Greene’s home said that investigators didn’t test a candlestick found in Addison Macemore’s room for wax because it didn’t appear to have any visible residue.

Lisa Dubs, Greene’s attorney, grilled Sergeant Tim Culp on Wednesday about how he collected evidence from the scene and why investigators didn’t search for paraffin wax around the overturned candlestick found in the room.

Greene, 42, is accused of killing her two children, Darren Macemore, 10, and Addison, 8, in a January 2006 house fire. The fire began in her daughter’s room, where the two children were watching a movie. She is charged with arson and two counts of murder. She could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Photos taken from the scene showed several candlesticks around the home. Dubs called the candlestick found in Addison’s room “unique” because it was the only one in the home without a candle on top.

Culp, who isn’t an arson investigator, said it was his decision to not test for paraffin residue in the room.

Dubs also questioned why Culp overlooked items at the scene of the crime that would have shown that Greene intended the children to go to school the next day, including two lunch bags and a handwritten note addressed to Daniel’s teacher.

“You didn’t find it relevant that Lisa Greene intended for her children to go to school the next day?” Dubs asked.

Culp said that he didn’t collect the items because they “didn’t seem to be anything involving the case.”

Culp was the only person to take the stand Wednesday. He spent most of the day displaying evidence collecting at the scene including: the children’s clothes, Greene’s purse, the candlestick found in the room and a section of the house where the children had tried to kick their way out.

Trial proceedings resumed Wednesday after the court took Tuesday off because of a sick juror.

Judge Robert Bell said he wanted to increase the pace of the trial to be completed by Christmas.

After speaking with counsel in chambers, Bell said that he would restrict lunch breaks to only one hour, begin court sessions 30 minutes earlier, have a full Friday schedule and would consider hearing testimony on Saturdays.

Trial proceedings began on Oct. 8 and a Christmas completion would mean the trial would have lasted 11 weeks. Opening statements were heard on Nov. 13.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Greene trial postpone due to sick juror

CONCORD - The judge in the Lisa Greene capital murder trial postponed court proceedings Tuesday because a juror was sick.

Greene, 42, is charged with the deaths of her two children, Daniel Macemore, 10, and Addison Macemore, 8, and arson in a January 2006 mobile home fire. She could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Judge Robert Bell chose not to allow an alternate to take the sick juror’s place because he said it was too early in trial proceedings to lose a juror.

Prosecutors said Tuesday they hope to have the trial completed by Christmas. Bell had asked if prosecutors and defense attorneys could discuss ways to speed up proceedings because testimonies were falling behind schedule last week.

The trial is scheduled to resume today.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Jurors see photos of children taken after the fire

CONCORD - Several jurors cried as prosecutors showed graphic photos of Daniel and Addison Macemore taken hours after the fire that took their lives.

Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Tim Culp, who had taken the photos, testified Monday about evidence found at the crime scene in the capital murder case of Lisa Louise Greene.

Greene is charged with arson and the murder of her two children, Daniel, 10, and Addison, 8, in a Jan 10, 2006, Midland mobile home fire. Both children died of carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation. Greene could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Prosecutors introduced more than 40 photos taken by Culp the morning of the fire, including six that showed the children’s bodies and one that showed footprints on the wall.

Greene cried loudly as prosecutors showed an enlarged photo of the bodies to jurors.

Other photos shown to jurors were of two fire extinguishers that were inside the home at the time of the fire, two phones that were in Greene’s bedroom at the time of the fire and a large, mostly empty jewelry box in the master bedroom. First responders testified earlier in the trial that Greene was wearing a large amount of jewelry when they responded to the home.

Greene’s defense attorneys, Lisa Dubs and Robert Campbell, will begin cross-examination questioning of Culp today.

Jerry Macemore, Greene’s former brother-in-law, testified Monday that Greene got angry at the children and called Addison a “whore” when he saw them at a Cabarrus County Wal-Mart a few months before the fatal fire.

Darren Macemore, the children’s father, and Mary Beth Burr, one of Daniel’s former teachers, testified Monday about Greene’s treatment of the children.

Greene’s attorneys said in opening statements that Greene had a great deal of family support in caring for the children and that she was a loving, doting mother

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Former Friends: Greene called her children a 'nuisance'

CONCORD – Daniel Macemore put his head down and looked ashamed as he sat in a barber’s chair after he heard his mother, Lisa Greene, say she “would give her kids away if people wouldn’t get mad at her,” a former friend of Greene’s testified Monday.

Wendy Lucas, a 14-year friend of Greene and hairstylist for her family, testified that one month prior to the January 10, 2006, fire that killed her children, Greene said her boyfriend didn’t want children and she wanted to get rid of them.

Lucas was one of two former friends of Greene, 42, to testify Monday that Greene was tough on her children and repeatedly said she didn’t want them. Greene is charged with two counts of murder and arson, and could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Lucas testified that on December 13, 2005, one month before the fire, Greene visited her salon, Salon 2000, and seemed “agitated” when she made the statements about giving her children away.

Lucas testified that Greene told her over the course of the previous three years that she “wished she’d never had them” while in the presence of the children.

Lucas testified that Greene was angry that her children had “ruined her body” and were a “nuisance.”

She also said that Greene once told her that she would rather her children be “dead than to let (Darren Macemore, the children’s father) have custody.”

Lisa Dubs, Greene’s attorney, angrily objected, saying that Lucas had never previously made that statement to police or the district attorney, and Judge Robert Bell had it taken from the record.

Dubs issued more than 20 objections during the questioning by Assistant District Attorney Ashlie Shanley.

“You remembered (these statements) all those times you were interviewed but didn’t think it was important until now?” Dubs asked during cross examination, and Lucas said she was unsure of when she remembered those statements being made.

Lucas had trouble remembering dates of specific times that Greene made these alleged statements to her but said several other women in the salon heard the statements made by Greene. Lucas testified that Greene would visit the salon every six to eight weeks in 2005, and would frequently make comments about disliking her children and her parental responsibilities. After being aggressively questioned by Dubs, Lucas changed her testimony, saying that Greene may have only entered the salon two or three times during 2005, but she was unsure.

Misti McCaskill, who testified first on Monday, said that Greene was “extremely critical” of her children and “never said a good word about them in public.” McCaskill said that Greene called her daughter Addison Macemore, 8, a “fat, chunky, little pig.” She testified that Greene called Daniel, 10, who had a learning disability, “stupid,” and on one occasion said her children were dressed like “hobos” and she was embarrassed to be around them.

McCaskill testified that she and Greene became “good friends” in 2003 and bonded over their love of motorcycles. McCaskill began testifying on Friday and was brought back for cross-examination on Monday.

McCaskill testified that Greene had ended their friendship by not returning phone calls six months prior to fire, and she was unsure of her state of mind leading up to death of her children. She added that Greene had originally told her that she loved her children, but later called them a “nuisance” and would “take them back if she could.”

Dubs asked McCaskill if she knew how Greene acted with her children outside of her presence, and she said she didn’t know.

A suspected gas leak, which was later found to be falsely reported, emptied the Cabarrus County Courthouse for nearly one hour Monday, interrupting testimonies.

Court proceedings will be halted the rest of the week due to the Thanksgiving holiday and will resume Monday, Nov. 26, at 9:30 a.m.

-Josh Lanier

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Jury hears 911 tapes in Greene Trial

CONCORD - Lisa Greene’s screams for help were muffled by her loud crying during much of the 911 call made to police the night of her children’s deaths.

Jurors in Greene’s capital murder case heard Wednesday the 911 call made by a neighbor who found Greene lying near a ditch on Jan 10, 2006, the night of the mobile home fire that killed Greene’s two children.

On the tape, Greene can be heard in the background yelling, “They need to hurry up!” and “My house is on fire!” Her voice wasn’t audible on the tape until two minutes into the five-minute call.

Wednesday was the second day of testimony in Greene’s double murder and arson trial. The Cabarrus County dispatcher, Curtis Anderson, who took the 911 call, testified in court.

Anderson, now a Concord Police officer, testified that the call seemed “unusual” because there was no mention of the fire during the first two minutes. The caller, Teresa Diss, originally only told the dispatcher about Greene’s hurt ankle and mentioned that Greene had lost her cell phone, Anderson testified.

“At a home where someone is potentially dying and the person reporting is more concerned with the cell phone and ankle injury just didn’t sit right with me,” Anderson told the court.

Lisa Dubs, Greene’s attorney, rebuffed Anderson’s statement and asked if he knew if the neighbor had walked too far away from Greene and that’s why he couldn’t hear her on the recording. Anderson said he was unsure of Diss’ movements and didn’t know how far she was while the two were speaking.

When Greene was audible on the tape, she was screaming and coughing, pleading for help, but Anderson testified that he believed she was acting because Greene knew police was on the phone. “It seemed like she was fake coughing and crying,” Anderson said. “I wanted to jump through that phone and save those kids … her actions just didn’t seem genuine.”

Greene can be heard on the tape saying that the children had fallen asleep with a lighted candle in their room, and that’s what must have caused the blaze. Prosecutors asked if it seemed suspicious that Greene would be able to give the dispatcher that information and her address in such an emotional state. Anderson testified that it “didn’t seem right.”

Anderson was the fifth person to testify that Greene seemed to be “faking” about how upset she was the night of the fire.

Cabarrus County Deputy James Moreau testified that if it were his kids, he “would be useless” and that it was suspicious that Greene wasn’t “acting like a woman who just lost her two kids.” Moreau made the initial investigation after the fire.

James Howard, a Cabarrus County firefighter, testified Tuesday that Greene was “engaging in theatrics” and that she cried but without tears.

Christy Brown and Kelly Coulter, both Cabarrus County EMS workers, testified Tuesday that Greene seemed to “cry louder,” but without tears, and “put on a show” as rescue workers treated her.

Dubs said in her opening statement that investigators rushed to judge the 42-year-old Greene because she didn’t act “the way they thought she should.” She said that the assumptions about Greene “weren’t scientific and caused mistakes in the investigation.”

Dubs said defense witnesses would prove that investigators made poor assumptions that led to Greene’s arrest.

The trial will continue Thursday with more prosecution witnesses expected. Greene could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Greene's attorney allege innapropriate behavior

Lisa Greene’s attorneys claimed Cabarrus County EMS paramedic, Kelly Coulter, acted “inappropriately” when she spoke to jurors during a recess break Greene’s capital murder trial.
Coulter and her paramedic partner, Christy Brown, were standing outside of the Cabarrus County Courthouse along with jurors from the trial Tuesday after testifying to Greene’s actions the fire that killed her two chil-dren when a man attempting to escape arrest fled the building.
The man, who’s name wasn’t released, had been found guilty of drug possession in a lower court, and at-tempted to flee arrest by running from the court room and out of the building. Two bailiffs and a bail bonds-man chased him. The man was apprehended outside of the courthouse.
During the chase, a man exited the building and claimed shots had been fired inside the building. Those claims were untrue.
Coulter told the jurors who were standing in front of the building’s sliding glass doors to “get away from the front.”
When Robert Campbell and Lisa Dubs, Greene’s attorneys, heard of the exchange between the paramedic and jurors, they said the actions seemed highly inappropriate because it violates the law the witnesses cannot speak to jurors at anytime during a trial. The two asked Judge Robert Bell to reconsider a motion to call a mistrial.
Outside of the presents of the jury, Coulter was asked to testify about the exchange between her and jurors during the break.
Bell denied the plea saying that Coulter “acted in the interest of safety and did the what she needed to for keep everyone safe.”
Court proceedings resumed after Coulter’s testimony.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Testimony underway in Greene trial

CONCORD - Daniel Macemore, 10, died while reaching for the door trying to escape the flames that had engulfed his room, while his sister, Addison Macemore, 8, curled up with her knees to her chest and died in a corner, a first-responder witness testified Tuesday in the Lisa Louise Greene capital murder case.

In opening statements, defense attorneys said the children kicked so hard they put a hole in the Midland mobile home’s wall, fighting to escape the fire that prosecutors say their mother, Greene, started.

Both children died of carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation, officials said. Prosecutors told jurors this information in opening statements in the double murder and arson case against Greene that began Tuesday. Opening statements followed more than a month of jury selection and pretrial hearings. Greene could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Assistant Attorney General David Adinolfi spoke forcefully, and painted Greene as a mother who disliked her children and wanted out of the responsibilities of parenthood, which led to the events on January 10, 2006.

Adinolfi said that Greene had made previous statements to friends that she “hated her children” and that she “hoped they were dead.”

Greene sobbed into her hands, and many of her family members cried loudly, as prosecutors meticulously retold the details from the night of the fire through a Powerpoint presentation. Adinolfi said that Greene was able to retrieve from the home her purse, all of her jewelry and a cell phone, which she didn’t use to contact 911, but not her children.

Lisa Dubs, Greene’s attorney, spoke of Greene’s innocence and painted Greene as a childhood victim of a tyrannical stepfather who “wanted to toughen the kids up,” and someone who was teased as an overweight teenager with a learning disability. But Dubs said that Greene overcame her troubled upbringing and grew to be a “successful” woman and loving mother.

“Her life was pretty much the way she wanted up until that night,” Dubs said.

Dubs also said that police overlooked other possible suspects in the case because they rushed to judge Greene.

“When someone doesn’t burn up in a fire to save their loved ones they become the suspect,” she said. “That’s not science.”

Dubs said that arson experts will prove that the fire was accidental, and that Greene’s initial explanation to firefighters - that a candle in the children’s room started the blaze - was true.

Prosecutors pointed to a statement they call a confession, which they say Greene made to investigators two days after the fire, as the true timetable of events.

Three first responder witnesses - two Cabarrus County EMS paramedics and a firefighter - testified that Greene was acting “theatrically” and was “putting on a show” for paramedics and family members the night of the fire, but said that she continually asked for her children and wanted firefighters to retrieve them from the home.

Investigators and other firefighters are scheduled to testify Wednesday.

Court officials expect the trial to last four weeks, but could extend two more if Greene is found guilty.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Judge allows Greene's statements to be heard

An alleged confession Lisa Louise Greene made to arson investigators will be heard by a jury in her double murder and arson trial, a Cabarrus County judge ruled today.

Defense attorneys attempted to suppress the statements she allegedly made to investigators three days after the Midland mobile home fire that killed her two children, but the motion to suppress was denied by Judge Robert Bell after a week of testimony.

Greene’s attorneys claim she was taking the medication Ativan, an anti-anxiety drug, during questioning and that investigators twisted her words.

In court documents filed by the prosecution, Greene allegedly told investigators she “set a blanket on fire and then placed that blanket on the bookcase outside the room where the children were sleeping … she then closed the door of the kids’ bedroom and went back to the recliner in the living room and sat as the fire burned.”

Bell said that he would allow the alleged statement to be heard in court but remarked he was “bothered” that detectives hadn’t recorded or videotaped the questioning.

Bell also ruled against a motion for a mistrial that defense attorneys made after prosecutors turned over more than 2,000 pages of documents pertaining to possible state witnesses Monday.

A motion to stay court proceedings so defense attorneys could review the documents was also denied.

Lisa Dubs, Greene’s lead attorney, pleaded with Bell to give the defense more time to review the documents and prepare, but after four weeks of jury selection and one week for suppression hearings, Bell would only grant an extended weekend.

The trial will begin Tuesday, Bell said.

Greene could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Defense questions detective on statements

In the second day of hearings to suppress an alleged confession Lisa Greene gave to investigators, Greene’s defense attorneys quizzed a detective on tactics used to lure her to an interview.

Defense attorney Robert Campbell questioned Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Detective Kevin Pfister’s intentions when he told the court he had invited Greene to the sheriff’s office to fill out paperwork to reclaim custody of her Midland mobile home. Pfister testified he never intended for Greene to fill out any paperwork and the reason for the invitation was so investigators could question her about perceived inconsistencies in her original statement.

“I wanted her to cooperate. She may not have cooperated if I had told her the truth,” Pfister said.

Pfister testified that before inviting Greene for the interview he believed she played a role in her children’s deaths.

Defense attorneys filed the motion to strike a statement investigators said she gave where she admits culpability by allegedly telling detectives the fire started on a blanket she was carrying and she did nothing to extinguish it. Campbell told the court Greene had been prescribed Ativan, an anti-anxiety medication, and was taking the drug during detective questioning. According to a manufacturer’s warning, Ativan’s side effects include hallucinations, drowsiness, amnesia and forgetfulness.

Pfister testified Thursday Greene appeared lucid during questioning. He testified Friday he never asked Greene about her medication.

Campbell also inquired about why Pfister didn’t record or videotape Greene’s interview.

Pfister said he had never recorded a interview of a suspect, and that he had always relied on his handwritten notes.

Questioning intensified after Pfister remembered on the stand statements Greene made that weren’t in the final interview notes.

Pfister testified Greene told investigators: “I didn’t kill my youngins, y’all,” before and after she gave her alleged confession.

“You say she confessed, but at the same time she’s saying ‘I didn’t do it’,” Campbell said.

Campbell asked if there could be other things Greene told investigators that didn’t make it into the final interview notes.

“That is possible,” Pfister replied.

Suppression hearings will continue Monday. The trial phase is expected to last at least four weeks.

Greene is accused of killing her two children, Daniel Macemore, 10 and Addison Macemore, 8, in a Jan. 10, 2006 Midland mobile home fire. Both children died of carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation in the fire. Greene is charged with arson and two counts of murder and could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Detective reads statements in pretrial hearing for Lisa Greene

Lisa Greene wept loudly during Thursday’s court hearings as Cabarrus Detective Kevin Pfister read statements she allegedly gave to arson investigators the night her two children died in the Jan. 10, 2006, Midland mobile home fire, which she is accused of starting.

Pfister was called to testify in a hearing to suppress a confession Greene, 42, allegedly gave to investigators. Pretrial motions began Thursday after the third and final alternate juror was selected after a four-week seating process.

The detective testified that Greene quoted her son, Daniel Macemore, 10, as saying, “Momma, don’t leave us,” as flames filled his sister’s room.

During his hour-long testimony, Pfister said that Greene told investigators the night of the fire that she had attempted to enter the room but “the flames were too high” and that she had burned her foot attempting entry. He said Greene told investigators that Daniel had slept in the same room as his sister, Addison Macemore, 8, the night of the fire because “he couldn’t sleep by himself, ever.” Greene’s attorneys, in pretrial motions, argued that the fire began accidentally from two lighted candles in the children’s room.

Pfister testified that the statement was the first of three Greene gave to him.

The third statement, which prosecutors believe is a confession, was given three days after the fire, Pfister testified. Reading from that statement in court, Pfister testified that Greene told investigators the fire started when a blanket she was carrying caught fire and she did nothing to extinguish the blaze.

“I don’t know why I didn’t wake my kids,” Pfister read in court. “I wanted to lay down and forget everything. I wanted to go to sleep and forget everything.”

Greene’s attorney, Robert Campbell, grilled Pfister during cross-examinations because this was Pfister’s first homicide case since he was promoted to detective from community police officer. Campbell also questioned why Pfister didn’t record the conversation with video or audio devices.

In court documents obtained by the Independent Tribune, Greene’s court-appointed attorneys said she was on medication when the statement was given and she was distraught because detectives questioned her during the time of her children’s wake.

Cabarrus County Assistant District Attorney Ashley Shandley continually asked Pfister at Thursday’s hearing if Greene seemed to be incoherent, not in control or upset while investigators questioned her. Pfister testified that Greene seemed lucid during questioning and that her walk “wasn’t prohibited or bothered in anyway.” The detective testified that he wasn’t aware of the extent of her injuries, but that her bandaged foot “was pink and had a few black specks.”

Cross-examination will continue Friday, and others are scheduled to testify in the pretrial hearing, which could push the trial’s start date as late as Tuesday.

Greene is charged with murder and arson and faces the death penalty if found guilty. The trial is scheduled to last four weeks, and could be extended two more for death penalty considerations if she is found guilty.

-Josh Lanier