WOODLAND — Samantha Green caused the death of her 19-day-old son Justice on Feb. 24, 2015 — on that point both the prosecution and defense agree.
But whether she should be convicted of second-degree murder or the lesser offense of involuntary manslaughter was the crux of the attorneys’ closing arguments Wednesday, culminating Green’s monthlong trial in Yolo Superior Court.
Samantha Green. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo
Prosecutors are seeking a murder conviction, saying Green, 24, intentionally acted with conscious disregard to her baby’s life when, high on methamphetamine, she took a onesie-clad Justice into Ridge Cut Slough in Knights Landing, kept him there overnight and didn’t seek help even though it was nearby.
The defense contends that Green loved her baby and did her best to protect him, despite being in the throes of a meth-induced psychosis triggered by paranoid tales that Frank Rees, her fiancé and Justice’s father, put into her head.
In either case, it was exposure to the cold winter weather that caused Justice’s demise, with dehydration and two previously undetected heart defects cited as contributing factors.
The seven-woman, five-man jury received the case and began deliberations at about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. They continued their deliberations today after meeting a full day Thursday without reaching a verdict.
Drug-fueled jealousy
Photos of a badly sunburned Green tell the story as to how her baby died, cold and hungry, on the bank of Ridge Cut Slough, Supervising Deputy District Attorney Rob Gorman said during his closing remarks.
“This case is all about why,” Gorman said. “Why baby Justice died was jealousy — jealousy fueled by methamphetamine intoxication.”
Justice Rees lived only 19 days. Courtesy photo
The proof, he added, lies in Green’s own words to a Yolo County sheriff’s detective who interviewed her in the days after Justice’s death.
“You knew where I was. You knew where to look for me,” Green, referring to Rees, told Detective Mike Glaser in the video-recorded interview played at trial. “He left me out there with his son.”
High on meth and fuming over Rees’ suspected cheating with another woman — one of his several admitted affairs — Green drove to Knights Landing on Feb. 23 to search for the pair and swam across the 55-degree slough despite knowing full well it put baby Justice at risk of death, Gorman told jurors.
Before that, according to Gorman, Green parked her car in a cul-de-sac where she thought Rees would see it, taking both her purse and diaper bag to leave out as a trail for him to follow.
Gorman also noted that Green struggled to keep Justice’s head above water as she crossed the waterway, an indication that she knew and understood it was a life-threatening act.
After reaching the other side, Green lay down in the weeds and “crashed,” or passed out, “where Frank could come and find her,” Gorman said. “Once Samantha Green passed out, baby Justice was completely helpless. … She awoke, and he was dead.”
Distraught and panicked, Green crawled through the slough’s dense thickets looking for a place to hide the infant’s body, propped him up against a tree, then swam back to the other side alone, the prosecution alleges.
That, Gorman said, explains how Green came to have numerous superficial scratches to her body, which Green has claimed she suffered while crawling through the brush in a drug-induced psychosis to shield her baby from an impending apocalypse.
The severe sunburn to Green’s back despite the cold February weather “indicated she was very still, with her back exposed to the sun, for an extended period of time,” Gorman said.
Gorman also cited the testimony of Dr. Kelly Arthur-Kenny, the pathologist who conducted Justice’s autopsy, who said markings of livor mortis — settling of the blood after death — on his chest and tops of his legs indicated he died in a face-down position by her side.
“This child did not have to die. But he did, and one person is responsible for that murder, and she’s sitting right there,” he added, gesturing toward Green. “Find her guilty.”
‘She loved her son’
While prosecutors argue that Green’s act of crossing the slough proves she held a conscious disregard for her son’s life, Public Defender Tracie Olson says it shows she did all she could to protect him despite her psychotic state of mind.
“If she has been consistent about one thing, it’s that she loved her son,” Olson said. “She had no motive to let him die.”
Olson began her closing argument by turning the spotlight on Rees and his influence on Green during their barely year-long relationship, which began with him as her drug dealer and resulted in her unplanned pregnancy.
“I understand Frank Rees is not on trial,” Olson said. “But Frank Rees is an integral part of how Samantha Green got to the slough on Feb. 23.”
Olson characterized Rees as “disturbed,” citing odd tales of hidden cameras and government conspiracies he told Green before and after Justice was born. On the witness stand at trial, he claimed intruders were in his house the morning of the slough incident, and that masked men threatened to kill him if he didn’t let Green “go down” for Justice’s death.
Olson said Green came to believe the delusions on the morning of Feb. 23 after Rees gave her a rectal injection of methamphetamine that left her in a “haze,” and it was in that state she drove to Knights Landing.
As for the prosecution’s claim that Green wanted Rees to find her, “does Frank seem like the kind of guy that would go looking for her?” Olson said, noting his frequent absences from home and disinterest in both Green and his newborn baby.
Rather, Olson said, Green swam across the slough in search of Rees, who had warned her of the apocalypse and the need to find “survivors.” She kept the baby’s head above water and wrapped him in her pea coat to protect him as she crawled through the thorny brush.
During one emotional moment, Olson displayed a photo of a scratched, sunburned Green next to one of Justice’s body, as it was found on the slough bank, to show how few scratches he had sustained.
“Who’s protected? Who’s taking the brunt?” Olson said. She theorized that a “perfect storm” of hypothermia and intoxication descended at some point, rendering Green unconscious as she held Justice to her chest for warmth.
“We know she’s unconscious when he dies,” Olson said, adding that Green passed out again after Justice’s death, likely suffering the sunburn at that point. “The hardest thing she’ll ever have to see is her baby dead, and the hardest thing she’ll have to do is live with herself every moment thereafter.”
Jury’s choices
Prosecutors are seeking a second-degree murder conviction for Green under the implied malice theory — that she intentionally committed an act that she knew was dangerous to human life, and behaved with conscious disregard to that risk.
Under the law, voluntary intoxication is not a defense to implied-malice murder, Judge David Rosenberg instructed the jury prior to arguments.
Jurors also may consider a verdict of involuntary manslaughter, which requires a finding that Green demonstrated criminal negligence or recklessness, without conscious disregard for human life, that resulted in an unintentional death.
Second-degree murder carries a punishment of 15 years to life in state prison, while involuntary manslaughter can result in a sentence of up to four years.
Initially charged with involuntary manslaughter following her arrest, Green was prepared to admit to the offense the week after her first court appearance when the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office upped the charge to murder, citing additional evidence uncovered during the investigation into Justice’s death.
Notes: The same week he testified at his former fianceé’s trial, Frank Rees was arrested by Woodland police on suspicion of possessing stolen property.
According to Sgt. Brett Hancock, Rees met with a resident of Palomar Drive on Sept. 7 to discuss purchasing a motorcycle. Rees allegedly took the bike for a test drive and never returned.
Officers investigating the alleged theft went to Rees’ home, where they found the motorcycle in the garage, Hancock said. Rees was booked into the Yolo County Jail on the felony possession charge.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
