evan's opinion and thankyous

This isn't the post you're looking for. If you want to see the final blog about closing statements and the verdict scroll down a bit or please click here.

Let's see here(I'm gonna talk like an 18 year old now, get over it)....This has been one of the most incredible, astounding, and enlightening experiences of my life. That's really all I want to say about that.

People emailed asking for my own opinions:

This case was a tragedy snowball which began rolling the very day Steven Green was born, even before. Did Green screw up? Hell yeah. Did Barker, Cortez, and Spielman? Of course. Did the Army? ahhh, therein lies the ruse. Did Green's parents do their job? The plot thickens!

Let's be clear here: I'm not taking sides of this case. What happened, happened, and the jury decided what the...or no they didn't actually! Either way, now Green is imprisoned for life. But, if there's one thing I am going to opine that I have determined in reading/studying/noting/writing about all of this, it's that there are FAR. TOO. MANY. PLACES. where this snowball of i-don't-know-what, could have been stopped in it's tracks. Roxanne should have been a better mother. Roxanne and John(and possibly Daniel) should have been better parents. Doug could've been a little less of a bully to his lil' bro. His various highschools could've worked a little bit harder at giving a needy student the extra push he needed. Hell, Steve could've stuck to his Riddlin' sched and made better grades. Alright enough with the family. Onward to the Army. Green tried to enlist in the Army in several counties, and was denied due to his alcohol/pot record. Good job, those recruiters. Then Green and Daniel Carr made a hop/skip/jump over to New Mexico or somewhere, where that one recruiter decided to say to himself, "okay, hell, if this kid can pass high school in 6 months, I'll waive his drinkin' and smokin'." And look what happened. Look what became of his one exception. I hope he's reading this out there somewhere and you feel just great!

Alright. Green goes to Iraq. We've heard this story before and I'm not going to even get into how many soldiers or sergeants or various other sources have emailed me to weigh in on the subject and whether what was being said in court was the truth or not. I'm going to keep it simple. Dear Army, wake the **** up! Our army is miserly thieving soldiers of their benefits, is obviously faking innocence to something regarding Steven Green's case, and is APPARENTLY STILL DOING WHATEVER THAT MIGHT BE. We know Green and his buds messed up. But come ON! DAMN! Take responsibility for what you've done! You didn't totally screw up, Green's guilty for about a 1/3 of it, as are you, as are ...something with how that man grew up.

People were never on their toes around Steven Green. Things that should've set off alarms...didn't. People didn't tattle tail(oops). People didn't report. People didn't get him help(oops). People didn't pay him attention(oops). It's about the little things, people, the little things. They don't mean much NOW but in the long run, they add up. There might be some kind of trend there, with some of those LITTLE factors.

Next topic: lawyers. All the lawyers did an awesome job. I've only done mock trial for four years, so this is kind of a step up for me and I don't know everything. But in my opinion all of them were given an extremely shitty case and they made one hell of a case out of it for their respective sides. Again, not taking sides, but particularly the defense. Mountains out of molehills. The prosecution had their case from day 1. More professionalism than I ever hope to have to be around for this amount of time ever again!

As for the jury, I don't know. During guilt phase they could've agreed to give him guilty on all but not kill him when sentencing rolled around. A single juror could've walked in yesterday(it's 1:11AM, so 2 days ago now) and immediately said "you can deliberate all ya want, I'm not killin 'im." All in all, I think if you gave any jury this case as it was presented, you'd have gotten the exact same verdict. So, in my ever so humble opinion, I think they gave him guilty because, he was. But they also collectively ate a little crow and said "aight, it wasn't only Green," hence the inability to decide the verdict.

Alright, enough of my rambling bull.

I've got a few thank yous and a few statements of my own to make:
I'd like to thank....the Academy for givi...no not really.
There are a few people who need to be greatly thanked for making this/allowing this to happen, and otherwise assisting in the process.

-More than anything, the ridiculously awesome principal of my high school, Mrs. Debbie DeWeese who realized the chance opportunity I had in doing this and bent over backwards to make it happen for me
-Judge Thomas Russell and Vanessa Armstrong for actually allowing a highschooler to be set loose in a Federal trial-- what where you thinking?!
-My teachers for being so much more accommodating and understanding when they didn't have to be
-Various ...people, from both sides and the middle, who gave me...pictures and various other assorted ...things, when you didn't have to. You know who you are.
-Lawyers, right! uhhh, Darren Wolff for the advice, evidence, comedy, and the "what's that little bastard up to this time?" stare. Patty B for the confidence. Scott Dusseldorf for being a Mac dude. Marisa Ford for being the only prosecutor who was willing to talk to me(Lesousky/Skaret, sorry dudes)
-Of course, the parentals. My mom made me sandwiches and ironed my clothes everyday. Dad yelled at me to wake up. If that isn't love, I don't know what is!
-Brett Barrouquere(I spelt that shit RIGHT!) and Jim Frederick for their all-seeing all-knowing incredible intelligence, wisdom, and advice.
-Gail Mellor and Matthew Palevsky for getting me on THE HUFFINGTON POST HOLY SHIT. I can't thank you enough and wouldn't know how if I tried, so I'm not going to.
-Dave Alsup from CNN...for nothing other than answering my questions, not getting mad at the spilt milk, and being a total badass.

My email address is eviio at comcast dot net(you can put the @ and the . in their places). I'm examining my options of continuing my writing. This trial had a huge(not as big as it should've been) following. I don't mind writing, but no offense to anyone in particular, I don't think I could handle sticking to trials/iraq/war crimes/death penalty cases. I have ADD. I've had people tell me to make this blog into a book, if for nothing else to say I've written one. I'm looking into that.

Send me your ideas for the future/my future/ the future of my blog/writing. Send me pictures of your dog. I don't care. I thank all of you for your support and I wish ya well in your life and endeavours. This trial is more or less over. I might come back to post for appeals or something, who knows. But by then, you'll have forgotten about http://trialcoverage.blogspot.com. I don't blame you, it's hard not to forget things in todays information-ASAP world. I might also post a link to my new blog, if a new blog is born. We'll see.

It's been real-- Evan Bright

A Sentence and A life

Day 17

Both sides presented excellent closing statements…some would call each of them “perfection.” Given the circumstances, I would. Perhaps it was the closing statements, so wrought with history and emotion and pain, which caused the jury to hang.

A short review

In closing statements, Brian Skaret presented a contrasting tale of the now deceased family versus the defense case. “Imagine little Hadeel’s body when it snapped as the bullet flew through her head… and Dr. Gur says Green had frontal lobe damage?” Skaret then presented a previously entered picture of Qassim Al-Janabi’s crime scene, “Well, here’s Qassim’s frontal lobe.” He talked about the rest of the family, especially Abeer, “Abeer had dreams of escaping her circumstances, of joining the city life, of meeting a man, but Steven Green prevented that…but they say that Green’s parents spent a lot of time at bars.” He also stated that if Casica and Nelson, Green’s now deceased superior officers while in Iraq, knew of their use in this case, “they would roll over in their graves!” He spoke of the defense building a smoke screen around the case, “but it is the smoke from the fire of Abeer’s burning body.”

“How many people will they try to blame? This isn’t about childhood, background information, combat stress…this is about heinous acts. The search for a scapegoat ends today.” In contrast to the defense’s statements and questioning regarding Barker and Cortez’ parole option, he made sure to tell the jury “there is no evidence that they’ll make parole, this is pure speculation. The letter will say ‘these men cooperated,’ yes, but we can also speculate that they’ll die in prison in 90 or 100 years.”

To no surprise, Skaret’s ended emotionally and valiantly, “Today is the day when you can stand up, and say no…no, no, NO! Our soldiers do not do this. He (points to Green) held that family’s life in his hands and crushed it, and in doing so he signed his own name to this death sentence. We ask that you finish what he started.”

A shorter review

Scott Wendelsdorf did his absolute best in pulling on the emotional strings of jurors. “There has been enough horror to last each of us, a lifetime,” he began. “The prosecution acts like we don’t care about Abeer.” Once again he spoke of the horrific nature of the crimes. “They(points to prosecution) act like life in prison is a slap on the wrist. No…a slap on the wrist is what Cortez and Barker got.” Echoing Pat Bouldin’s opening, Wendelsdorf reminded the jury, “As you know we never disputed Steven’s role in these crimes.” He talked about justice and what plays a role in it, stating that “you know, a big component of justice is fairness.” He talked about rape being Barker’s idea, and of Green confessing to Col. Marrs four separate times about his homicidal ideations. He talked about Marrs’ psychiatric reports and dissertations, in one of which she stated that ‘Combat can make the best soldiers commit the worst of crimes.’ Wendelsdorf ramped up in rhetorically questioning, “Where was Fenlason? Where was Goodwin?! There WERE no hard stripes at TCP2!” He talked about the “combat incapable” status that Marrs gave the platoon. “We’re not diverting responsibility,” he told the court. He implied that the Army knew that soldiers like Green were prime candidates for suicide and homicide. “This war changed them, it broke them, and it cut them, and led to this 15 minutes of madness.” He brought up a quote stating that, “Man’s law is most like God’s law when mercy seizes justice,” after which he vigorously ended his opening. “NO! America does not kill its broken heroes! Spare this boy! SPARE HIM!”

The verdict

The jury was given their instructions and the deliberations began. They deliberated for three and a half hours yesterday before adjourning. Throughout yesterday and today, there was much speculation regarding the possible outcome. Some thought out loud, “it can’t be good if [the jury is] taking this long.” Others speculated about a single juror holding out on the death penalty, and one unidentified person jokingly commented, “Hell for all we know they could be in there sleeping or playing poker.” Some people expressed frustration upon hearing that the jury had ordered lunch for tomorrow(Friday) as well as requesting extra work release forms. Various parts of the media could be seen camped out around the courthouse, and others were seen napping(err, heard snoring) in the media room(see picture below).



At 3:51PM a U.S. Marshall notified the court that the jury had reached a verdict. The gabble sirens were sounded and everyone came running.

The jury deliberated for a total of ten hours and twenty minutes. While waiting for the jury, Jim Lesousky(P) was seen, hands clasped, as if in prayer. Scott Wendelsdorf(D) was pacing around the defense table, anxious and apprehensive. His hands were shaking as he took his seat. Green, appearing in the same maroon sweater vest as before, appeared surprisingly calm, his breathing steady; the exact same calm-cool-collected look could also be seen on Green’s father John and uncle David, present in court. Pat Bouldin(D) twiddled his thumbs with his head down, knowing that this was the moment they’d spent the past two and a half years preparing for.
The jury entered, looking quite stern. Two juror’s lips were near quivering. The members of the defense team looked down, while the prosecution eyed the flock of jurors for the last time. After reviewing the verdict forms, Judge Russell announced that the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, giving Green life in prison without possibility of parole.

Relief

A collective sigh of relief went up from the defense side. Wendelsdorf leaned back in his chair and eyed the sky, thankful. Steven Green’s brother Doug slouched in his court-pew, murmuring “thank you,” his hands shaking with relief. John Green, David Green, Doug Green, and an assistant from the defense team shared hugs all around. The three defense lawyers pounced on their phones, presumably informing wives and witnesses of the [lack of a] verdict. The prosecution appeared content. After the jury exited, Russell thanked everyone for his or her cooperation and assistance.

Doug, Green’s brother, said that “Given the choices, this was the only appropriate verdict,” later adding that he has “mixed emotions about the verdict, but at least he’ll have some semblance of life. We’re grateful.” Green’s father merely stated that it was “the best of two bad choices.” The defense team issued statements. They are as follows:

"We are obviously pleased with the penalty phase verdict given the two choices available to the jury. However, there won’t be any celebrating tonight by the defense team. Mr. Green will spend the rest of his life in jail and the events of March 12 2006 have forever changed the lives of many. It is a tragic case on so many levels. At the end of the day, we truly hope the US military will take a hard look at the resources they provide our service members dealing with combat stress issues. If they do not, we are certain a tragedy like this will occur again in the future."
- The Defense team

Darren Wolff also issued a separate statement, being that he does not work for the government:

"Steven Green did not want to try this case. He offered to plead guilty on two separate occasions in exchange for his life. Those pleas were rejected by the Department of Justice. That is when it became obvious that this case was not about fairness or equity, it was about appeasing the overseas communities who have been calling for Mr. Green’s execution. We are pleased the jury did not bow to those politically motivated pressures."
- Darren Wolff, Individually

For the prosecution, Marisa Ford gave the age-old response you might expect:

"This trial represents some of the most important principles of our Constitution and our democracy in action. The decision of how just would be best served was left to the people. We have the utmost respect for their decision and we very much appreciate the attention the jury gave to the evidence in this case."

Later, Darren Wolff and Pat Bouldin told the editor of this blog that they feel they “have a good chance with appeals…this is a law that has not been tested yet…but it will be.” Wolff stated that “This as a tragedy for the Al-Janabi family, this was a tragedy for the soldiers, this was a tragedy for Green and his family.” Like the witnesses he questioned, he stated that, “yes,” he “will maintain contact with Steven while in prison.”

End.

I will be posting a "thank you note," if you will, later tonight.

LIFE

The jury was unable to reach a verdict in USA v Green.
Therefore, Federal District Judge Thomas B. Russell will impose a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, when Green is formally sentenced on September 4th at 11:30AM.

Check back later tonight for the writeup on both closings and the verdict. Lots to come.

Deliberation's Continue

Day 17

Ahem. For those of you wondering where yesterday's blog is, or perhaps wondering if the judge had kidnapped and sequestered me... I haven't.

The jury began deliberations yesterday after hearing closing statements from Brian Skaret(P) and Scott Wendelsdorf(D). Their deliberations continue as I write this(10:28AM Thursday). Details on closing statements will be found in the post-verdict writeup. Which will hopefully be today.

Until that time, here's this from CNN's Deborah Feyerick:

Calm Before The Storm

If I tried to tell you that my "young" mind wasn't beginning to show signs of wear from doing this for ...nearly three weeks now, I'd be lying. Regardless, if you have any ideas about what I should do with this blog or what should become of it after the trial is over, please comment or email me.

Day 15

The defense rested today. While some were surprised that the jury would not get to hear testimony from any of Green's direct family, while others expected it.

For the prosecution, Jim Lesousky called a single rebuttal witness, as previously predicted. Dr. Helen Mayberg, a clinical neurologist at Emory University, was called; Dr. Ruben Gur was also listening via muted phone so as to hear what her response to his testimony would be.

Mayberg was called to respond to the testimony of Gur. She told the court of her medical degree from USC and of her certification in neurology. Her testimony did not last nearly as long as Gurs. She told the jury that "testing one person deemed possibly mentally disabled...against a control group of forty-one 'healthy' people, would not always produce accurate results." She told the court that she did not note the same variations within Green's MRI that Dr. Gur previously testified to the jury. She also testified that in Gur's study of the forty one "healthy" subjects, they were tested using MRI's of a 1.5 tesla strenth, as well as two other measurements/settings that were to equal or be set to "one;" she told the jury when Gur reviewed Green's MRI, he failed to notice that his MRI was given at a 3.0 tesla strength, and that the two other aformentioned settings were also different, meaning that Green's MRI would not have matched the control group results regardless. For the most part, the defense has been excellent, but if they've ever suffered a setback, this would be it.

For the defense, Scott Wendelsdorf crossed Dr. Mayberg on her witness history and her pay grade. She admitted that in her "twenty plus" years of testimony, she had never testified for the defense, only prosecution. She also admitted that while amount of pay doesn't affect her testimony, she was getting paid $500 per hour of testimony today.

Just after the judge stipulated the jury on a few menial matters, court adjourned at 10:50AM. Prosecution and Defense needed time to prepare both closing statements and to agree on jury instructions.

Closing statements start at 9AM sharp tomorrow, Wednesday, May 20th. After completion, the judge will instruct the jury and the waiting game will begin. Personally, I'm predicting that we'll have a verdict by this time(9:05PM CST) tomorrow. I, Evan Bright, am also predicting a sentence of life in prison, one way or another.

Final Furlong

Day 14

The defense has almost completed its case for the jury. Noah Galloway was called to the stand first today. Patrick Bouldin questioned him about his level of confidence and his reasons for that confidence surrounding his February 2003 campaign in Iraq. "I was very confident, because of the excellent leadership. I told my wife to not worry about me because I wasn't worried about myself, I was in good hands." In contrast, regarding his second tour of duty in Iraq, he wasn't nearly as confident, due to the lack of training, and communication..."From the position of Company Commander, that was Captain Goodwin, all the way up past Colonel Kunk, I had my doubts," he told the jury.

The second witness to take the stand today was Deacon Dan Houck. Houck is a Deacon with the Archdiocese of Louisville. He is 82 years old, having served in WWII('44-'46) as a scout, Korea(3 years) as a 2nd Lieutenant with an 89th Tank Battallion, and Vietnam('69-'70) as a Lieutenant Colonel. He has served 16 years as a chaplain to the Kentucky State Reformatory. He testified that Steven Green requested to begin discussions with someone about joining the Catholic Church. Houck accepted the offer, thinking he could help with his past military experience. He testified that he had met with a very sincere Green around 40 times, expressing interest in the history of the Church. "Steven was very well read, in my talks with him. He did his homework. He was sincere," Houck told jurors. He told the court that as Green stands trial today, he is a baptized Catholic.

The final witness to testify today was Patricia Ruth, Steven's aunt, and sister to John Green, Steven's dad. Her daughter is Suzi Woolsey, who testified last Thursday. She spoke of Roxanne being a flamboyant and outgoing person who "lived in her own world." She contrasted in that she herself was "strict" on her children, whereas Roxanne was "the opposite" with hers. "She wanted her children to be individuals and live an unstructured life," she told the jury. She said that as a child, Steven was "always the kid who wanted to know 'why?,' and he was also very hyper active. He was like having a squirrel loose in the house." When Pat Bouldin asked if she still loved Green, she had to retrieve tissues for her tears before answering, "I'm like a second mother to him, he's my Stevie...(pauses)...you can't just...stop loving someone, that you've always loved." She paused and thought for a moment before going on, "I don't know, I don't know how we got to spot...I don't know, we did not send a rapist and a murderer to Iraq."

Perhaps the biggest point in her testimony, Bouldin asked her why Roxanne, Steven's mother, couldn't be here in Paducah to testify. "I'm not sure, but from what I've heard, to the best of my knowledge, she had to move and had plans to have a going away party so she couldn't attend?" In contrast, Bouldin noted that John Green and David Green, Green's Dad and Uncle, were present in the gallery. After she finished testimony and after the mid-morning break, a paralegal from the defense team would approach Ruth to tell her that "Steve wanted me to tell you that he wishes he could come over here and hug you." She tearfully wished she could do the same.

Court adjourned at roughly 11AM today(Monday, May 18th).

The schedule as it stands:

Tuesday(tomorrow): Remaining defense witnesses, if there are any, followed by the Prosecution's one rebuttal witness(an expert/specialist of some kind). There is a "50/50" chance that we will hear closing statements tomorrow, Pat Bouldin allegedly said. If not tomorrow, expect to hear them on Wednesday.

Notes:
-Any ideas on what should become of this blog post-trial? Feel free to suggest!
-Dull dark brown sweater vest. Defense Attorney Darren Wolff looking extra Dapper Dan in the three piece suit as well.

The Runt of the Family

Day 13

The defense continued and almost completed it's case for the penalty phase.

The first witness was one Tammi Dehay. She has known Green for about 10 years, beginning with becoming friends with one of Green's cousins before she was introduced to him. She spoke of having an ongoing correspondence with Green, even during his imprisonment during the past 3 years. She said that Steven is "hilarious, he's one of the most brilliant people I know." Darren Wolff then asked her about her relationship with Green, to which she tearfully responded "he's my friend and I care about him deeply."

The next witness was a school teacher named Suzi Woolsey from Argyle, Texas. Pat Bouldin(D) asked Woolsey about her relationship with Green, she thoughtfully said "he's the son of my mother's brother," making them cousins. She spoke of occasional visits with Steven and his family when they were younger, mostly on weekends and often during the summer. She talked about her memories of playing with Green and his brother Doug at a young age, while her older sister babysat Danielle(or 'Dani'), their little sister, while the mother, Roxanne, was out at work.

She talked about their way of life, describing the family home, "there were lots of toys....Roxanne's sewing equipment took up a lot of room...it was kind of cluttered." She also remembered Roxanne and defendant Green's father separating. She herself testified that she didn't get along well with Roxanne, telling tales of being a pest to Roxy, making her frustrated and flustered. "I knew I didn't have to obey her and that I could get away with anything."

Getting to the important part of her testimony, Bouldin directed her to the general style of the Green family's way of life. Asked about the structure, she testified, "There wasn't any. I was always a little...uneasy, while I was at their house." She talked about how her family was structured with rules, expectations, chores, and contrasted that by noting that none of these things existed in the Green household. She testified that as she got older, she learned that Roxanne had an affair with a local plumber, causing their divorce, and the later remarrying to Daniel Carr(who testified two days ago). She spoke of the home made movies, usually filmed on holidays, and how they stopped occurring after the divorce; her chances to spend time with Green and his siblings was greatly diminished.

She continued with more stories. She talked about spending the night at Roxanne and Daniel's new house in Clearlake, TX(they moved the family there after the divorce). She spoke of the house being dirty and very cluttered, and how Roxanne and Daniel weren't even home when she arrived. She told the jury that after she returned home, she had to shave her hair off after finding head lice, just before her senior year. According to her, this cause more riffs between her and her aunt.

She testified that when she visited the family when they lived in Seabrook, TX, the house appeared as if it hadn't been cleaned at all, as well how she only saw Roxanne once during her two day stay at the house. "Not only that but all three kids had at least one if not two friends over." She talked about Doug and his relationship with Steve, " Doug and his friends were mean to Steve...they told him to shut up and were very physically and verbally abusive." She testified that she couldn't think of any sibling in any family that was as mean as Doug, and also about how Doug and his friends ganged up on Steve. "Roxanne was never around to stop the bullying like in other families," she commented. Danielle was injured by Doug's abuse thee separate times she told the court.

Pat Bouldin lead Woolsey to her opinion of Roxanne, who she said was "selfish, conceited....she never put her kids first in any of her decisions." She told the court that Roxanne allowed Danielle to drop out of school in the 6th grade. "Doug and Dani were her favorites...Doug could do what he wanted and Danielle was her princess on a pedestal." Bouldin then asked her how she would rate Roxanne as a mother on a scale of one to ten. Woolsey gave her a 2 out of 10. "What about Daniel Carr as a father?" "3 or 4..maybe," Woolsey said. She said that she would "never" have classified the house as "loving."

Green while in high school

As Green's life progressed, she spoke of hoping for his future. When he began discussing the military, she said she felt like "this is going to be a good thing." After he graduated from basic, they spoke on the phone, she told the court. "This was the first time he'd ever sounded like he respected someone.....he sounded changed." When she saw Green after his tour in Iraq, she said that he "was almost unrecognizable...his eyes were sunken in, he was thinner than I'd ever seen him." She talked about Green's living with them for a short period, after his return to Iraq. "He didn't eat much, he didn't sleep much....he seemed very uneasy." Pat Bouldin also questioned her about the current relationship between herself and Steve's brother Doug: "Well...he calls when he needs something...like a place to stay or something...he doesn't hang around. Steve, he'll call me just to talk to me."

In ending his direct, Bouldin asked Woolsey on her thoughts of Green as a person. "He's so caring, loyal...he's a nice, funny person." Like Wolff, Bouldin asked her if she would keep in contact with Green while imprisoned, she agreed. She stopped with "He was such an adorable child, just wanted a little attention...he's like a little brother to me."

For cross-ex, Brian Skaret(P) just made the point that "Green had high potential, did he not?" and that he had opportunities "as most people do?" Woolsey agreed to both.

(Note: This witness testified for nearly 3 and a half hours and giving me seven pages of notes. As a reference, everything you see above this took about four pages. This witness was long winded to say the least, therefore what you see will be only the bigger points.)

The next witness was Jan Vogelsang, a clinical social worker and mental health expert, owning her own practice in Greenville, NC. She is licensed and verified. She began my talking about her job description... "to do a bio-psychological social assessment." She spoke of reviewing "hundreds" of documents, relating to the case as well as Green's history and ancestry(see annotation #1 at the bottom for more detail).

She began by testifying that through her review, she found Steven Green "as a young child, had an enormous amount of potential, as well as many gifts that were left untouched and undiscovered due to neglect. He was also surrounded by an immense amount of chaos in his life...but despite this, when things around him were calm, he too was calm. His behavior reflects his surroundings." She also mentioned that "he was a classic case of simply being born at the wrong time, in the wrong place, into the wrong family."

She began telling the tales of Green's ancestry. "They were a hard working family, a boot strappin' crew, they believed in service to their country and to their community." Green was very attentive during this portion of her testimony, behaving as if he was in a class, trying to learn his own history. She talked about Green's views of life in his earlier years, "he grew up with a view of life having the 50's traditions as in the TV show 'Happy Days,' so when his life was the complete opposite of that, it was detrimental to him." She talked about Green's extended family military history. She began talking about Roxanne, Green's mother. "Roxanne's family live in the South, they worked hard to see that each generation would be better than the last, but they also had a running theme of alcoholism and substance abuse." She mentioned Steven Green's grandfather killing himself after a particularly rough drinking binge. She talked about Roxanne's being spoiled throughout her life, as well as being the center of attention. She talked about her 'rebellious-ness', and her early experimentation and use of drugs(LSD, Valium, speed, coke..."anything she could get her hands on).

She got on the subject of Roxanne's marriage to John Green, with a history of how they arrived there. "They were an immature couple for their age...they lacked any real sense of growing up....they enjoyed the nightlife. They lacked the maturity to realize that drinking and partying at some point comes to a stop. They were more like kids than their own kids..[...]..they reinforced each others drug and alcohol use."

She spoke about the unexpected pregnancy with Doug. She testified that when Doug was born, "Roxanne instituted a lifestyle change within herself." She calmed down with her partying, and began experimenting with various forms of religion(including "The Science of the Mayan Church"), she changed her haircut, and even had a baby shower. But, "after a year of being a homemaker and giving birth," Vogelslang told the jury, "she returned to her work-and-party lifestyle." While Doug was unexpected, he was still born into a world of happiness and excitement. "Green was unexpected, but he was not treated as Doug was." She testified that Roxanne was unhappy about being pregnant and losing her figure once again. "During pregnancy and after birth, Green was looked at as a nuisance," Vogelsang said. Green was "not easily soothed, he didn't eat well, he barely slept at all, and didn't nurse well either." She reiterated that other family members had to step in and assist with the care of Green.

The snowball started rolling. "Roxanne often laughed at and joked about Steve," she told the court, "Roxanne unfortunately never realized Steven's gifts, and in doing so, made him an easy target." Something that subtly shocked the courtroom, she testified that in her interview with Green, he told her that Roxanne "had told Steven that if he had been born in colonial times, she would legally have been allowed to take him out to the forest and kill him."

She talked about Green in his younger age. "According to interviews, he was bowlegged as a child, making him a very uncoordinated, clumsy child."...[...]..."As a child, when he was with anyone but his primary family, he did great!" giving an example of his aunt teaching him to count and to read, as well as reading to him. "again, when someone paid attention to Steve, and provided a structured environment around him, he'd do fine." She spoke about Green being very neglected as a child, and because of that, having a very low self esteem. "He acted in ways that would get him rejected by his family, mostly by trying to get attention in the first place." She told a story of Green creating a painting of a heart with an arrow through it, which he tried to give to Roxanne. "Roxanne just turned and walked away, according to Steven." She also told how Roxanne ignored Doug's beatings of Steve. "Roxanne unfortunately thought that children should discipline themselves....it contributed to her children being socially inept."

She told the story of how Roxanne began having an affair, and the subsequent divorce between herself and John. That forced Green to move to northern Texas to live with his uncle. "While there," she said, "he received some minor possession charges...one for selling beer in his school parking lot so that he could buy food, and another where he was caught with a blunt(marijuana cigar) in his hand." She spoke of important things Green didn't have. "One of the most important things a parent can teach a child is that they will face adversity in their life and how to face it. Green was not taught to face adversity, at all."

She spoke of Roxanne's relationship with Doug. "She made Doug a best friend, and a confidant," she said. This occurred more so during the periods of time when Roxanne lacked a significant male friend or boyfriend or husband. "She turned Doug into a substitute male...which gives that male too much power. She shared too much with him. She empowered him as the enforcer of the house, she put him in charge." Doug was also extremely abusive. "Doug was mentally, physically, and emotionally abusive to Steve and Danielle." The court has already heard testimony about Danielle taking three trips to the emergency room due to injuries suffered from Doug, something I left out of the blog previously. "Roxanne felt that Steve deserved Doug's abuse." She talked about Roxanne actually missing Steve's graduation from basic training. She ended by talking about the end result. "The accumulation of tumultuous events in his life made him into Steven Green."

Court adjourned early at roughly ~3:30 PM today, and will be out of session until Monday, May 19th. The defense has to prepare more witnesses, presumably Green's direct family(Roxanne, Doug, Danielle, and John). Personally, my guess is that those witnesses were ready today, but the defense doesn't want to give the jury time to forgot them over the weekend. The prosecution is also reportedly bringing in their own expert to combat the brain analysis etc.

Seeya Monday.

Notes-:
1-Annotation of Vogelsang's research-: Owns her own private practice. Worked at the Veteran's Affairs for a number of years. Licensed by the South Carolina Social Workers, as well as being board certified. Conducted a total social, bio-psychological, and historical assessment of Green's family. Conducted interviews, reviewed documents, did research on the ancestry, reviewed child welfare documents, court records, family systems, neurological documents. Interviewed all of the following: Danielle, Suzi Woolsey, Patricia Ruth(aunt to Green), Uncle David, Doug, Allma Thomas, Steven Green, Green's maternal grandmother( a Simolke ), Greg Simolke, Daniel Carr, Jim Isclaw, Chase Bentley, Roxanne, Cody Ray and Joni Ray, & father John Green. Reviewed lots of mental records, and visited Midland, TX as well as other cities, reviewed school records, employment records, previously conducted psychological interviews, as well as drug treatment records.

2- Will someone please bring me RedBull or maybe some Starbucks? I have a sneaky suspicion that there are a few people in the courtroom who are getting a little peeved about my "inability to stay alert"(or awake perhaps) during the more monotonous parts of testimony. :(

3- CNN is now doing daily coverage as well. See their latest here. While we're at it, check out The Common Ills as they are also doing near-daily coverage. Other sites covering the trial: Expose The War Profiteers, Firedoglake/Oxdown, The West Kentucky Star.

4- IF you actually read this far then you're obviously quite dedicated: therefore I'm going to entrust you to tell me what should become of this blog after the trial, because I honestly don't know. Leave a comment or drop me an email at eviio - AT - comcast - DOT - net.