WOODLAND — Nearly four months after a Woodland woman’s arrest for allegedly killing her infant son, attorneys in the case continue to haggle over the exchange of evidence as well as prosecutors’ pursuit of the defendant’s jailhouse medical records.
At one point Thursday, Yolo Superior Court Judge David Rosenberg told lawyers in the Samantha Lee Green case to “stop all this quibbling” as he attempted to schedule court dates for arguments on various motions that have been filed.
One proceeding that has yet to occur is a preliminary hearing, where the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office is expected to unveil the evidence that led them to charge Green, 23, with murder in connection with 3-week-old Justice Rees’ death back in February.
Prosecutors offered a hint earlier this month, however, writing in a response to a defense motion that Green murdered her baby after suspecting her fiance and the infant’s father, Frank Rees, had been unfaithful.
“On Feb. 23, 2015, immediately after concluding that her boyfriend was cheating on her, Ms. Green drove to an area of Knights Landing, parked her car, and — for no legitimate reason — walked out into the levee area with baby Justice,” Deputy District Attorney Ryan Couzens wrote in the May 28 document. “Ms. Green stayed out in the levee — again with no reason — the entire cold February night with Justice wearing a wet diaper and a ‘onesie.’ Justice died, and she left his body.”
The baby’s body was recovered on the morning of Feb. 25 following an all-night search of the Ridge Cut Slough area.
Couzens also noted that Green, who after emerging alone from the slough on Feb. 24 told authorities she and her baby had been kidnapped and that she was sexually assaulted, later admitted the story was “bull—-.” Other court documents show she also acknowledged using methamphetamine and marijuana during her pregnancy and in the days before Justice’s death.
She has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her, which in addition to murder include child endangerment.
Her court-appointed defense attorneys say they have yet to see the evidence that prosecutors say justifies the murder charge. The DA’s office initially charged Green with involuntary manslaughter, but upped the count to murder about a week later after learning “new information,” the nature of which was not publicly disclosed.
The defense filed a motion on June 8 demanding that discovery, which includes all written, verbal and electronic communications between law enforcement and the DA’s office from March 4, when the involuntary manslaughter count was filed, to March 10, when prosecutors filed a motion to amend the charge to murder.
“Denial of the requested information is a violation of the defendant’s due process rights,” Public Defender Tracie Olson and Deputy Public Defender David Muller wrote. A hearing on the defense motion is set for 1:30 p.m. June 29.
The defense lawyers also are claiming a violation of their client’s privacy rights after the DA’s office obtained for the second time copies of Green’s medical and psychological records from the Yolo County Jail, where she has been held without bail since her Feb. 28 arrest.
An earlier search warrant seeking the records was quashed — or voided — after Rosenberg determined that the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office, which prepared the warrant; the DA’s office, which reviewed it; and the judge who approved it all failed to seek a special master to maintain the confidentiality of the documents as required by law.
The records were returned to the court, but obtained by the DA’s office again on Monday following the approval of a second search warrant that included the special master provision. Prosecutors maintain the warrant was in full compliance with the law, and that the records are necessary to prove Green was not suffering from a mental illness that affected her judgment at the time of Justice’s death.
“I’m just going to have to sort this issue out,” Rosenberg said at Thursday’s court hearing, ordering that the records again be turned over to the court while the attorneys file legal briefs on the matter. He scheduled arguments and ruling for July 13 at 3:30 p.m.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene