WOODLAND — The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office says it has the evidence to support charging a Woodland woman with murder for the death of her infant son, and defense attorneys want to know what it is.
Last week, the Yolo County Public Defender’s Office filed a two-page discovery request seeking all reports, emails and verbal communications regarding Samantha Lee Green that were exchanged between the DA’s office and law enforcement agencies from March 4, when she was arraigned on lesser charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment, to March 10, when prosecutors sought to replace the manslaughter count with murder.
Green, 23, is accused of causing the death of 3-week-old Justice Rees, whose body was found Feb. 25 on the bank of Ridge Cut Slough in Knights Landing. Yolo County sheriff’s detectives arrested Green three days later, saying her claim that she and the baby had been abducted could not be substantiated.
Yolo Superior Court Judge David Rosenberg granted the DA’s motion to amend the charges at a March 13 court hearing after Supervising Deputy District Attorney Rob Gorman argued his office had received “new information” following Green’s arraignment that warrants the murder charge.
Gorman did not disclose what that information was, however, saying it likely would not be revealed until the case reaches the preliminary hearing stage.
The defense motion demands the evidence within 15 days of the March 18 discovery request, or a written explanation “should there be any item or items the People either cannot or refuse to provide.”
Public Defender Tracie Olson and Deputy Public Defender Dave Muller accused the DA’s office of engaging in “vindictive prosecution” when it filed the motion to amend Green’s charges on March 10 — a day after Olson notified prosecutors that Green intended to plead no contest to the involuntary manslaughter and child-endangerment counts.
According to a copy of the plea form that Green signed on March 9, she faced at most a 13-year prison sentence, followed by four years of post-release supervision. A murder conviction carries a potential life term.
Gorman took issue with the public defender’s allegation, saying defense attorneys were well aware the investigation of Green was ongoing and that the charges against her could change at any time.
The case is due back in court March 30 for a pre-hearing conference and possible setting of a preliminary hearing date. Green, who has pleaded not guilty to the revised charges, remains on a no-bail hold at the Yolo County Jail.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene