TRENTON – An Appeals Court said no to a defendant’s appeal connected to his conviction in a fatal shooting, in Villas, in 2012.
An attorney for Bernard Green argued that he should be able to back out of a plea arrangement, under which Judge Patricia Wild gave him 24 years, the maximum sentence under the negotiated plea.
The sentencing took place Oct. 31, 2014. An Appeals Court upheld that sentence, and the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case, according to court documents.
Green asked for post-conviction relief from the sentence, arguing, in part, that he was not properly represented by his attorney. In October 2018, Judge Sarah Beth Johnson denied his petition. Appellate Court Judges Jack Sabatino and Greta Gooden Brown upheld Johnson’s decision Oct. 23.
In a 14-page ruling, the judges stated Green failed to meet the tests established by precedent to show the attorney did not offer effective representation. The “bald assertion” that the performance was deficient is not enough, the decision reads.
Green, who is also listed by several aliases, including “Peanut,” Bernard Gales, Jason, and Bernard E. Grant, faced first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of Christopher Turner, a 44-year-old Navy veteran and commercial fisherman. Green also faced weapons and burglary charges.
As outlined in the court documents, Lower Township police were called to a house in the early hours of Nov. 20, 2012, to find Turner face down in the home’s front entrance.
The resident told police that Turner came to her home on the night of Nov. 19 with a friend of hers and a woman named Crystal. Green, whom the resident knew as Jason, came to the house after midnight, looking for Crystal, his wife, the court papers state.
The resident told him Crystal was not there, according to the background included in the decision, but she told officers he forced his way in, armed with a handgun. Green spoke with Crystal outside the house and then confronted Turner, demanding money.
“A physical altercation ensued, during which defendant shot Turner four times. An autopsy of Turner confirmed that the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds,” reads the court documents. They state Crystal told Green she no longer wanted to be in a relationship with him.
“Defendant admitted to going to Callahan’s house on Nov. 20 to find his wife, but ‘adamantly denied carrying a handgun.’ He denied knowing Turner but admitted that he and Turner had engaged in a physical altercation during which he claimed Turner produced a firearm. Defendant claimed the gun had discharged during the fight, killing Turner,” the court documents read.
Green said he left the house but told investigators he remembered little of what came after. He said he woke up in some bushes after being intoxicated.
He denied going to the house to shoot Turner but agreed that he recklessly caused Turner’s death “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life,” the legal standard for aggravated manslaughter in New Jersey.
The public defender representing Green argued that he should be able to seek a reduction in the sentence and argued that the earlier denial of post-conviction relief failed to afford him a hearing to address his contention that his legal representation was inadequate.
Green’s attorney argued three points: Green’s statements to police should have been suppressed once Green invoked his right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment, his counsel failed to pursue a defense of diminished capacity, and he should have been allowed to withdraw the plea bargain and pursue a defense of passion and provocation, suggesting this may have changed the outcome.
Under the Constitution’s Sixth Amendment, the Appeals Court agreed, a defendant is guaranteed effective legal counsel, but the defendant must show that the representation was deficient, and the performance actually prejudiced the accused defense.
The court rejected the claims that his attorney should have sought to surpass evidence from Green’s conversations with investigators and the defense of diminished capacity would have made a difference in the outcome.
According to the decision, Green invoked his right to remain silent, but investigators asked him if he knew the location of the gun used in the shooting. That is permissible under an exception for public safety because the missing gun could cause harm if picked up by a child or another person. The investigators also asked for basic information about his identity, which the judges said is also permitted.
“At that point, defendant spontaneously changed the subject and asked the investigators, ‘What’s the purpose of you guys speaking to me like, you know what I mean?’ In reply, the investigators explained to defendant they were not allowed to talk with him about the case because he had asked for an attorney. Nevertheless, defendant said he wished to converse with the officers ‘man to man’ and provide his version of the events,” reads the decision.
The officers took a break, and when they returned, they reiterated that he had a right to an attorney, but Green spoke with them anyway.
Any motion to surpass what he said was likely to fail, the judges argued. The judges also doubted a defense of diminished capacity would have helped him, either.
There is a record that Green consumed alcohol that night, but there is no record of how much or witnesses saying they perceived him as intoxicated.
Voluntary intoxication is only a defense if it is so severe that it cancels out some element of the crime, they wrote.
The third and final point is that he should have been allowed to withdraw the guilty plea and pursue a defense that he was overcome by passion or provoked.
“This argument plainly has no merit,” the decision reads. Green denied to officers that he snapped when he found his wife with another man, and the argument that preceded the shooting was about money, not about Green’s wife. Also, the plea agreement had already provided the defendant with a more certain reduction in the sentence than the defenses, the court argued.
He might have faced a 30-year minimum prison sentence on a murder charge.
To contact Bill Barlow, email bbarlow@cmcherald.com.
