Posted: Wednesday, September 8, 2010 11:40 pm
Robin Y. Richardson ryrichardson@marshallnewsmessenger.com |
An arrest has been made in the murder of 44-year-old Shirlette Stephens Green, who died from a single gunshot wound on Labor Day.
Jeffery Charles Green, 48, was arrested Tuesday for the murder of his common-law wife, Shirlette Green, according to a Marshall Police Department press release.
Police officers along with Marshall firefighters/EMTs responded to the 3000 block of Hynson Springs Road around 9:08 p.m. Monday "in reference to a gunshot victim." Upon arrival, Ms. Green was found with a single gunshot wound.
She was transported by ambulance to Good Shepherd Medical-Center Marshall, where she later died from her injuries.
A warrant was issued late Tuesday by Justice of the Peace Nancy George for Jeffery Green's arrest. He was arrested and placed into the Harrison County Jail at 5:42 p.m. the same day.
Bond was set by Judge Hugh Taylor at $250,000 on the murder charge, which is a first-degree felony. The charge carries a life sentence or any term not less that 5 years or not more than 99 years. The charge can also carry a fine not to exceed $10,000.
Ms. Green's death was the second murder of the year in the city, said MPD Detective Sonya Johnson.
Denise Robinson and Jason Johnson, Ms. Green's first cousins, claim Ms. Green was a victim of domestic violence.
When asked to confirm the claim, Detective Johnson said MPD is still investigating.
"We don't want to say that (it's a domestic violence situation) and that's not what it is," she said. "All we're charging him with is murder."
Ms. Greens' cousins, however, maintain their position, saying she regularly received death threats from her common-law-husband and feared for her life the night she died.
"She had a premonition that he was going to kill her," said Jason Johnson.
"Everybody always heard the threats - ‘If she leaves me, I'll kill her,'" said Ms. Robinson. "The time came when she said, ‘Enough is enough.' That's the day he killed her."
Johnson said Jeffery Green told police two conflicting stories of how he ended up shooting his common-law wife.
"First, he told a story that it was in self-defense," said Jason Johnson. "The second story he said was he was trying to shoot a snake" and the victim accidentally stepped in the way.
When asked to verify the stories Jefferey Green allegedly told police, Detective Johnson said, "I can't comment on that."
The family said learning of his arrest has, however, brought them a little peace in the midst of their storm.
"That's the beginning for us," said Ms. Robinson, sharing their family has experienced several deaths including the murder of a grandfather.
"No justice was served," she said of the murder of her grandfather in the 1970s in Waskom, the family's hometown.
"I felt like this is happening again," she said. "Just to hear he (Jeffery Green) got arraigned, it's like God is moving. I trust God in this. We're asking for prayers and answers and that justice will be served."
Jason Johnson said the arrest is comforting for him.
"It gave me hope that they are taking it seriously," he said, adding it's been his experience that police do not take such cases seriously.
"All I want is at least a trial," Jason Johnson continued. He said he wants the jury to listen to the story and decide Jeffery Green's fate. "I don't want him to walk away because he can kill again," he said.
Ms. Robinson said her cousin's death is like a bad dream.
"We're still pinching ourselves trying to wake up," she said. "Nobody can understand this loss." She said about 100 family members gathered at the hospital.
"It's truly, deeply unexpected" and a "selfish, unnecessary" murder, Ms. Robinson said.
Jason Johnson said he can't understand how women can stay in abusive relationships, but he was told his cousin remained in the abusive relationship because Green allegedly threatened to harm her two daughters.
"She was a law abiding Christian, who loved her children," he said.
Ms. Robinson said a report was never made regarding the violence, but she thinks it is because her cousin was like many women in those situations, who believe their men can change.
"My personal experience is we feel like he's hitting me now and maybe one day in life, he'd change. We want to be there when he changes," she said.
Unfortunately, the family said, their loved one ended up dead.
"There was a lot of tension at home the night of the murder," Jason Johnson said of the Green household.
"She was at church that night," he said. "When she came home, she had a premonition. A conversation they had was death-related. That's when he shot her."
Ms. Robinson said her cousin meant a lot to many and will be missed.
"She was a mother of two and loved her daughters truly," she said, sharing one of the daughters just graduated from college with an education degree.
Ms. Robinson said Ms. Green looked out for her father, who is gravely ill.
"He hadn't been eating about a month" and she was able to get him to eat more not to long ago, she said.
Ms. Robinson said Ms. Green, as a supervisor for a local cabinet company, never discriminated when it came to hiring.
"She never turned people away due to their character," she said. "She always gave people jobs - even our family" and was the type to help anyone out.
"The day she got killed she went to an usher's meeting at a church she (recently) joined," said Ms. Robinson. "She gave and gave. Everybody knew her from Waskom to Marshall to Shreveport."
The family will receive friends 7 to 8 p.m. Friday at Lewis Funeral Home. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday at the Texas Louisiana Association Building under the direction of Lewis Funeral Home.
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