Jury unable to reach verdict in Warren trial

Son is on trial in shooting death of father in Lebanon.

LEBANON —

A jury deliberating in a murder trial in Warren County was unable to reach a verdict Wednesday.

Freddie Green, 42, faced charges of murder and felonious assault in connection with the fatal shooting of his father, Sidney Green, 64, on Dec. 2 at a rented home they shared in Lebanon.

The jury began deliberations just before 11 a.m. Wednesday, the third day of the trial in Warren County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Timothy Tepe sent the jury home at 8 p.m. They are to continue this morning.

In his closing statement Wednesday, defense lawyer Jeff Richards said Green had spent his entire life submitting to his father, “the classic alpha male.”

“Freddie was like an abused wife,” Richards added.

Self preservation, the only human instinct stronger than sex, enabled the son to pull the trigger on his father’s 9mm gun, Richards concluded.

“Human beings will do almost anything to stay alive,” he said.

In their final statements, prosecutors pointed to the facts proved in the trial.

Green said he had the gun and was bigger and stronger than his father, who suffered from medical problems and had recently been in a car crash.

“Those facts demonstrate he is guilty of murder and felonious assault,” Assistant County Prosecutor Steven Knippen said in his

final statement.

While Richards said Green’s story remained consistent, Knippen pointed to inconsistencies. “We know that not everything the defendant told you was true,” he said.

Taking the stand Tuesday, Green admitted he drove to Dayton for heroin during the four hours he waited to call 911, but maintained he acted in self defense. Green said he planned to commit suicide with the drugs.

A syringe containing the illegal drugs was found in the kitchen when police arrived to find Sidney Green dead in the bedroom from a single gunshot to the back of his head. Heroin and cocaine were found in his system.

According to Green, he followed his father into his bedroom after they quarreled while doing laundry and he heard the drawer where the gun was kept open.

Green testified that he was unsure what to do after shooting his father out of fear he would pull out another gun after they struggled in the bedroom of a duplex in Lebanon. He said he meant to shoot his father in the shoulder.

Forensics showed a single bullet fired from about three feet away into the back of Sidney Green’s head killed him.

If convicted, he faces as much as 15 years to life in prison. Sidney Green was one of six victims of deadly domestic violence in the last half of 2016 in Warren County.