Witnesses were ready on Friday, but attorneys in the Norris Greenhouse Jr. case agreed to postpone a hearing for two weeks "to get it right."
Prosecutor John Sinquefield told 12th Judicial District Judge William Bennett that the state was ready on Friday, but cited "ongoing discovery issues" with Greenhouse's defense. It was better to continue the hearing commonly called a 404(b) hearing until Aug. 16 so that they could get it right, he said.
Jurors in Norris Greenhouse Jr.s murder/attempted murder trial will be able to hear testimony from the then-girlfriend of one of his alleged victims, but the state will not be able to present witnesses to build a case of a pattern of behavior to support the prosecutions theory of motive in the case, a judge ruled after a hearing today.
12th Judicial District Judge Billy Bennett ruled against the state in its motion to introduce evidence of previous bad acts and crimes.
However, he will allow the testimony of Megan Dixon, who was Chris Fews girlfriend in November 2015.
Avoyelles Parish Judge William Bennett has neither granted nor denied a motion from Norris Greenhouse, Jr. and his attorneys, George Higgins and Rocky Wilson, to change the venue of his trial. Instead, the motion will be referred to jury selection when the trial begins next Monday.
Judge Bennett released his reasoning for the decision on Tuesday following a hearing on Monday where Greenhouse, Jr.'s attorneys tried to argue that pretrial publicity would not allow him to receive a fair trial in the parish. He said that the Court has serious concerns that a "fair and impartial jury can be impaneled," but will make a decision to grant the motion if it becomes obvious that a fair jury cannot be.
At a hastily called hearing this morning, Norris Greenhouse Jr. pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and malfeasance in the Nov. 3, 2015 shooting death of 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis. He will be sentenced to a total of 7.5 years -- five for negligent homicide and 2.5 years for malfeasance. Two years of the negligent homicide sentence must be served before he is eligible for parole. Formal sentencing will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Prosecutors spoke to Few and the childs grandmothers and they had no objection to the plea offer.
Sinquefield said several factors in Greenhouses case were different than in Staffords. Greenhouse fired four bullets and there is no forensic evidence that the bullets struck anything but the car, the prosecutor noted. Stafford fired 14 shots with several bullets striking Few and his son.
Greenhouse pleads guilty to negligent homicide
https://www.avoyellestoday.com/news/greenhouse-pleads-guilty-negligent-homicide
Before Norris Greenhouse Jr. was sentenced for the death of Jeremy Mardis, the boy's father said he's grateful that he and his family won't have to endure another trial.
Greenhouse was sentenced to five years for negligent homicide and two-and-a-half years for malfeasance in office. Both sentences are to be served at hard labor, but neither are designated as crimes of violence.
He will have to serve at least two years of the negligent homicide sentence before he's eligible for any release or reduction in sentence. He does get credit for time served, but the time he spent under house arrest does not count.
In April of 2017 Stafford's defense appealed, claiming five errors, including that evidence of other prior confrontations Stafford had while acting in his capacity as an officer should not have been brought before the jury and that his sentencing was constitutionally excessive. The court found no merit to all five points and upheld the conviction and sentence.
A civil lawsuit filed after the November 2015 fatal shooting death of 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis was settled on Thursday.
Details about the settlement were not released, and no one involved is allowed to discuss it.