WOODLAND — Once suspected of murder, the mother of an infant boy found dead in Knights Landing last week no longer faces a life prison sentence under the charges filed Wednesday by the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office.
Samantha Lee Green now stands accused of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment — both felonies — as well as an enhancement for infliction of great bodily injury on a child under age 5, in connection with the death of 3-week-old Justice Rees.
Dressed in a green-and-white striped jail uniform, the 23-year-old Woodland woman pleaded not guilty to the charges during a brief arraignment hearing Wednesday in Yolo Superior Court, the courtroom nearly filled with relatives and friends of Green and her fiancé, Frank Rees, the baby’s father.
A three-page complaint filed shortly before the hearing alleges that Green “willfully and unlawfully killed a human being … without malice, in the commission of an unlawful act not amounting to a felony, and in the commission of a lawful act which might produce death, in an unlawful manner, or without due caution or circumspection.”
If convicted, Green faces a maximum of 12 years in state prison.
The lesser charges also provide Green the opportunity to post bail, which visiting Judge W. Arvid Johnson set at $250,000 at the urging of Yolo County prosecutors. Green’s newly appointed attorneys, Public Defender Tracie Olson and Deputy Public Defender Dave Muller, had pushed for $100,000 bail.
The case has been assigned to Judge David Rosenberg, who will preside over a pre-hearing conference on March 30.
Olson declined to discuss the case Wednesday, as did the DA’s office, which did not elaborate on the decision to forego a murder charge. Green and Rees’ parents left the courthouse without commenting.
Search launched
Green’s charging document alleges that Justice’s death occurred on Feb. 24, the same day the new mother emerged disheveled and hysterical from the Ridge Cut Slough area in Knights Landing, screaming that she and her baby had been abducted from Woodland the day before.
A subsequent 17-hour search ended the following morning when Justice’s body was found on the slough bank opposite of where Green had been. Coroner’s officials have not yet ruled on his cause of death, but believe he had died before the search began.
Green told News10 in a jailhouse interview this week she believed she had been “drugged or given bad drugs this night this happened” and had little memory of how she got to the slough, but perceived that someone was chasing her as she carried her newborn.
Earlier this week, Justice’s paternal grandmother Patty Rees confirmed that the baby had been born with methamphetamine in his system and that the family had created a “safety plan” with Yolo County child welfare workers. County officials currently are reviewing the related documents to determine whether they can be legally released to the public.
Yolo County sheriff’s detectives conducted several interviews with Green, arresting her on suspicion of murder early Saturday morning after determining the abduction claims could not be substantiated, Sheriff Ed Prieto said.
Reached for comment Wednesday, Prieto said he supports the DA’s decision to file the revised charges, noting that prosecutors carry the higher burden of backing them up in court.
“We had probable cause to believe she had committed a murder, but they have to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt,” Prieto said. “That’s fine — this isn’t a personal issue with me. We all have different responsibilities.”
John E.B. Myers, a criminal law professor at the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, admitted being surprised by the decision “given the high-profile nature of this case.”
Prosecutors have a number of charging options in situations like this, Myers said. They include first-degree murder, which presumes a malicious intent to kill that also can be more difficult to prove; or “depraved heart” murder — a form of second-degree murder — with the belief the defendant engaged in grossly reckless behavior that resulted in a death.
However, if Green indeed underwent lapses in consciousness due to being under the influence of drugs, “this is a better fit for involuntary manslaughter based on criminal negligence and child endangerment. It’s the right set of facts,” Myers said. “They gave a lot of thought to this decision.”
Father also in court
Also appearing in court Wednesday was Frank Rees, Green’s fiancé and Justice’s father, who on Sunday was arrested on several outstanding misdemeanor warrants out of Yolo and Lake counties.
Rees’ court-appointed lawyer, Ava Landers, requested a brief recess, after which Rees entered a no-contest plea to one count of driving on a suspended license. A second case involving the same charge as well as a count of driving without insurance was dismissed.
Johnson sentenced Rees to a year of probation, during which he must use an ignition interlock device before driving, a $2,309 fine and 10 days in jail, which he likely will have satisfied by today.
Yolo County sheriff’s Capt. Larry Cecchettini said his agency will report Rees’ pending release to Lake County officials, who will decide whether to retrieve him to answer for their own warrant — which charges him with impaired driving and child endangerment — or approve his release on a citation.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter @laurenkeene
