Jury finds Green guilty on all three counts

After more than four hours of deliberating last Thursday, the jury found Jeremiah Green guilty of two counts of deliberate homicide by accountability and tampering with physical evidence in the Feb. 3, 2005, murders of Catherine Madplume and Gerald Sirucek.

The verdict was returned at 6:20 p.m., as the victims' family members gathered in the third floor of the courthouse after waiting all afternoon while the jury deliberated.

For most of the family, the verdict bought some closure to an almost 16-month process that has seen multiple omnibus hearings, several changes in defense attorneys and two plea bargains.

"This has been hard and trying," said Sirucek's father, Bill. "It's been a long time coming."

"It's just a relief," said Sirucek's sister, Daina.

However, some family members involved felt conflicted. SuSan Dowdall, Madplume's grandmother, explained that she is related to all three co-conspirators in the murders.

"When I saw them bring in Troy [McDonald], it really hurt. He had chains around his feet, he was taking these tiny steps, his hair was matted. They left him with such little dignity," she said.

She said she was convinced McDonald was the shooter.

"I know those boys and he can't lie about something big like that. People died that night," she added. "These families are hurting."

Green's sentencing is set for July 13.

McDonald pled guilty to the murders a week ago before district court judge Kim Christopher. As part of his plea agreement, he testified that Green instigated the plot to kill Sirucek and rob him of his student loan money. But Green had maintained all along that McDonald acted on his own accord and forced him at gunpoint to slit the throat of Sirucek and help stash the body. The plea agreement calls for McDonald to serve a 30-year sentence in a state facility for the developmentally disabled in Boulder.

Several witnesses associated with Green and McDonald testified during the four-day trial.

Michael Pierce, a former friend of Green's, told the jury that on more than one occasion, he heard Green state that he'd like to kill Sirucek.

"He said he would kill him one day if he had the chance," Pierce said. Pierce added that he "would look so serious when he said this" and "he would get this look on his face."

Pierce told the jury that Green had approached him several times about "jumping" Sirucek.

"He would talk about ganging up on him and beating him up," he said. "I told him … that it was not worth it."

He heard Green make these threats between 2001 and 2002. Pierce, who now lives in Colorado, said he and Green had a falling out in 2002.

Pierce said that Green referring to Sirucek as his "best friend" is not consistent with what he knew about the relationship. However, he doesn't know what kind of relationship Green and Sirucek had after he left the state.

Patrick Adams Red Sky, a cousin of Green's, told the jury that Green and Sirucek were "friends since I can remember." He told the jury that McDonald had approached him about beating up Sirucek.

Deputy county attorney Mitch Young questioned Red Sky and it was revealed that he had visited his cousin several times in jail and he maintains a good relationship with Green's father. He admitted that he doesn't want to see Green "get hurt."

Another cousin of Green's, Cordell Rost, said McDonald was "easy to set off" especially over things like teasing. Defense attorney Tom Kragh presented Rost a transcript from an interview the two had. Kragh asked him to read a certain paragraph from the transcript. Rost read it silently to himself and stated "I don't remember saying that" but that he had a "bad memory."

Lake County Detective Jay Doyle was brought to the stand and asked to read the transcript out loud. It was revealed that Rost had said "McDonald had a tough-guy attitude." Doyle also read a statement of Rost's which alleged McDonald to be the kind of person that would kill if angry enough.

Rost told the jury that he never had any problems with McDonald, but that he "didn't care for Troy or J.C. [Green]."

Gruesome details of the murder were presented when Dr. Gary Dale, a state medical examiner who works at the crime lab in Missoula, was questioned about the slits on Sirucek's neck. The biggest question both the defense and prosecution had was whether or not the cuts were made before or after Sirucek had died. Dale said he could not tell with any certainty, but that it was possible that Sirucek had struggled to stay alive for several minutes after receiving multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.

Dale said the 10 incised wounds were about four inches in length and varied in depths, but that none of them were necessarily fatal, as the cuts did not sever any major blood arteries. He said Sirucek most likely died of gunshot wounds.

Stephen Nelson, a former Missoula County police officer, was brought to the stand. Nelson served a stint in Lake County jail between January and May of 2005 for criminal charges held against him. He stated he was placed in Lake County jail for his protection, instead of being held in Missoula, where he had worked. The charges, which were never revealed in court, were dropped and Nelson is now working as a golf professional.

Nelson stated that, while in jail, he overheard a conversation between two prisoners on or about Feb. 5, 2005. The conversation was regarding a double murder. Nelson couldn't see who was discussing the murders, as he was placed in an isolation cell. He decided to take notes on the conversation and presented his notes to Lake County Sheriff's deputies. Nelson later learned, after presenting his notes, that it was McDonald talking about committing the murders.

Nelson told the jury that he took the notes down as best he could and that there were moments when the conversation was inaudible because of the acoustics of the jail cell. Nelson noted that McDonald had said something about being "pissed off." Nelson said McDonald used the term in the context of someone getting a new car and money. Nelson also noted that McDonald said that he shouldn't have left any witnesses and that he said "J.C. took the money."

"That's exactly what I wrote in my notes," he said.

On Thursday, Kragh, Green's attorney, said enough evidence was presented showing his innocence.

Final arguments were presented. Young began his case with a hypothetical question. He asked the jury what they would do if they witnessed two murders in the same night.

If they were to write down their answers on a piece of paper, he said, they would find that none of their answers would include going shopping for gas and cigarettes, visiting with a cousin and eventually confiding about the murders with an aunt.

His actions, he said, are not those of an innocent person.

He then talked about Glen Gardipee, the third co-conspirator in the murders of Sirucek and Madplume. Earlier in the trial, Gardipee made significant changes to his story, telling the jury that he witnessed McDonald with a gun in his hand standing over the body of Sirucek. In his original statement to authorities, however, he stated that it was Green with the gun.

Young asked the jury to only credit the first story Gardipee gave to police. McDonald, on the other hand, has given the same testimony several times and except for a brief attempt to blame the shootings on Green, his story has been the same — Green instructed him to carry out the killings.

He also urged the jury to keep in mind that Green provided "innumerable falsehoods" to authorities, "each one designed to distance himself from the murders."

Young alleged that Green had planned the murders, but he didn't plan on having to slit Sirucek's throat.

"Those 10 identifiable cuts, there is no evidence that anyone inflicted them but J.C.," he said. "Were they intended to be fatal? They don't look like they were done for fun."

"J.C. didn't know that a person doesn't die immediately after being shot. J.C. knows now. Now he needs to know what happens after you kill someone."

Kragh opened his argument saying that some people feel that the "presumption of innocence is just legal babble."

"But the presumption of innocence here is very real," he said. "Right now, he is, as a matter of law, innocent."

"My experience has been that juries like to figure it out. They want to come back to court with a definitive answer," Kragh said.

If the jury can't figure it out, he added, that means the prosecution failed to establish burden of proof.

"That means, as a matter of law, you must acquit," he said.

As for Green's nearly five hour delay in notifying authorities of the murders, Kragh said "J.C. Green is a Native American living on a reservation. Perhaps the rules are different in these circumstances."

Green has been sitting in jail for over a year waiting for this day, he said.

"This is the only shot J.C. is going to get. This is his trail. For J.C. there are no 'do-overs,'" Kragh said. "The verdict you render will be the verdict he will live with the rest of his life."