2-time killer gets life in prison as jury rejects death row
Victim's mom backs decision on Green
April 12, 2002
By Glenn Chapman STAFF WRITER
Green qualified for the death penalty after jurors found him guilty of fatally stabbing Charles Hass and knifing Aaron Merritt while trying to rob Hass outside a West Oakland liquor store last year.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Nieto argued that the lethal attack and a legacy of criminal acts dating back decades demanded the 45-year-old Oakland man be sent to death row.
Green's nefarious history includes convictions on charges of manslaughter, robbery, theft and possession of weapons. Green pleaded guilty to manslaughter after he shot a woman dead with an assault rifle in 1983 while trying to kill a man near her at Brookfield Village in Oakland.
Defense attorneys James Giller and Daniel Horowitz urged jurors to have mercy on Green, a man of limited intellect compelled to fend for himself on tough Oakland streets.
Jurors spent about two days deliberating before returning to Judge Philip Sarkisian's Oakland courtroom Thursday. The jury declared the 45-year-old Oakland man should be imprisoned for life without the option of parole.
"It reaffirmed my faith in people, that they can see to the heart of things," Horowitz said of the decision. "There is a difference between doing wrong and evil."
Louise Hass, mother of the 27-year-old man slain by Green, spent a half-hour talking with jurors after Sarkisian thanked and sent them on their way. One juror asked Hass what her son would think of the outcome.
The Indiana woman paused, then concluded her son would likely defer to the wisdom of the jury.
"This was for the representatives for the state of California to protect society here and to decide justice for this," Louise Hass said. "This is not like sports, where there is a winner. It is a matter of serving the needs of the community."
Louise Hass was relieved Green would not be free on the streets, but expressed concern for any who might cross his path in prison.
"Society, through 12 jurors, has decided what the appropriate punishment will be for Mr. Green," Nieto said. "I stand behind their verdict."