Prosecutor details violent past in death penalty phase
April 10, 2002
By Glenn ChapmanSTAFF WRITER
Defense attorney James Giller appealed to the jury's compassion, and urged them to spare the convicted murderer whose life's story is a tale of a dangerous career criminal.
When left to his own devices, Green sent jurors his own message. He urinated on their stairway during a break in closing arguments in Judge Philip Sarkisian's courtroom Monday afternoon.
The jury's return to court was delayed to allow a janitor to clean the stairs, which jurors use to go back and forth to an upper floor reserved for the panelists.
In a Powerpoint presentation, Deputy District Attorney Michael Nieto displayed a chronology of ferocity and lawlessness by Green that dates back to 1978 and includes robbery, theft, weapons possession and killing.
"That is a lifetime of crime," Nieto assured jurors as the penalty phase of Green's trial neared its close. "That is a resume that qualifies him for a job on death row."
In March, the jury found Green guilty of murdering 27-year-old Charles Hass and trying to murder Aaron Merritt after the pair stepped out of a Peralta Street liquor store Jan. 27, 2001. Green stabbed Hass in the heart and knifed Merritt in the lung during a failed attempt to rob Hass, according to evidence presented by Nieto.
Nieto discredited the defense experts who contended Green's behavior should be viewed in the context of his paltry intelligence and his harrowing childhood. Nieto dismissed the findings of the paid witnesses as scripted, unfounded and "$24,000 worth of distraction."
Nieto told jurors that sentencing Green to life in prison instead of execution would be "giving him a gold card to continue his behavior on inmates and jail staff." While incarcerated earlier, Green joined a prison gang, according to investigators.
Nieto finished his presentation by playing a recording of Hass singing at a party with friends. The song was American Pie by Don McLean. The sound of Hass happily belting out the chorus "and this will be the day that I die," lingered as Nieto turned off his laptop computer and sat down.
"What this is about is a man's life is at stake," Giller countered. "It is not necessary to kill Willie Green ... mercy and compassion can all come into play."
**This case calls for understanding,** Giller said. **Willie Green will die in prison, you've already assured that with your guilty verdict. **--->
The jury is to begin deliberations today.