Thursday, August 17, 2006

Breaking News: Perry March Found Guilt On All Charges

Perry March Found Guilty On All Charges


Perry March Found Guilty On All Charges

Perry March was accused of killing his ex-wife Janet almost exactly 10 years ago. On Thursday, after eight days of testimony, one day of closing arguments, and ten hours of deliberation, one of Nashville’s most famous unsolved mysteries ended with March’s conviction on charges of second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.

Related Information
Perry March Receives Guilty Verdict
Lawrence and Carolyn Levine React to Guilty Verdict
Complete timeline of events in the March murder case
Perry March's "To-do" list during Janet's vacation (PDF)
Transcript of conversations between Perry March and Russell Nathaniel Farris
Transcript of conversations between Arthur March and Russell Nathaniel Farris
Love letters written by Perry March to a former co-worker at a Nashville law firm (PDF)
Excerpt: Perry March's manuscript, "Murder.com" (PDF)
State of Tennessee vs. Perry March: Court Filings
State of Tennessee vs. Perry March: Prosecution Filings
State of Tennessee vs. Perry March: Defense Filings
Perry March: NewsChannel5.com's complete coverage

On charges of second degree murder, the jury found Perry March guilty with a sentence of 15 to 25 years. March would be required to serve 85 percent of that sentence before Perry would be eligible for parole.

On charges of abuse of a corpse, the jury found Perry March guilty.

And on charges of tampering with evidence, the jury found Perry March guilty.

Without much expression, Perry March listened as the foreman revealed the verdict. Perry March was then escorted from the courtroom. There was also no reaction from Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, Janet’s parents, as the verdict was read.

“It’s been a long tough case for everyone involved,” said Bill Massey, defense attorney.

Massey said they were entertaining thoughts of a good verdict because he felt they had good closing statements.

Massey also said that the taped conversations between Russell Nathaniel Farris and Perry March were by far the most damaging pieces of evidence.

After the verdict was read, John Herbison, Perry March's long time attorney, said, “He was brought here with a weak case.” Herbison said the prosecution built much of the case after Perry was back in the United States and that March and his defense team plan to appeal.

After the verdict was read, Tom Thurman, lead prosecutor, said he was pleased with the outcome of the case. Thurman said that they indicted him at the time they did because they were afraid witnesses may begin to lose memory of what happened.

Levines After Guilty Verdict

Lawrence Levine read a prepared statement after he and his wife Carolyn hugged Tom Thurman and Katy Miller, the second chair prosecutor for the State.

“On behalf of my wife Carolyn, and my son Mark, I would like to express our profound gratitude to Tom Thurman, Deputy Attorney General, who continuously gave us hope justice would be pursued for Janet over ten long years.

We’d also like to thank General Katy Miller for her excellent work, and we’d also like to thank these particular people: Detective Pat Postiglione; Detective Bill Pridemore; the late detective Terry McElroy, who worked so very hard on Janet’s case; Detective David Millerl; District Attorney Torry Johnson, who continued to help us and give us hope during all those long years; to Captain Mickey Miller; Detective Tim Mason; Attorney General Amy Eisenbeck; Attorney General Ben Winters; Attorney General Michaela Mathews; and our attorney who took the deposition, John Jones.

In addition, we’d like to thank all those many police officers and detectives who worked many long hours, weeks, months, and yes, years too, to find Janet and the cause of her death.

We’d also like to thank the members of the jury and the grand jury for their careful consideration of the evidence. And finally we’d like to thank our and Janet’s family and friends, the many people in the Nashville community who gave support to us during those ten very difficult years in our pursuit of justice for our daughter and our grandchildren.”

Perry March was accused of killing his ex-wife Janet almost exactly 10 years ago. On Thursday, after eight days of testimony, one day of closing arguments, and ten hours of deliberation, one of Nashville’s most famous unsolved mysteries ended with March’s conviction on charges of second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.

On charges of second degree murder, the jury found Perry March guilty with a sentence of 15 to 25 years. March would be required to serve 85 percent of that sentence before Perry would be eligible for parole.

On charges of abuse of a corpse, the jury found Perry March guilty.

And on charges of tampering with evidence the jury found Perry March guilty.

Without much expression, Perry March listened as the foreman revealed the verdict. He was then escorted from the courtroom. There was also no reaction from the Levines, Janet’s parents as the verdict was read.

Janet March disappeared on the night of August 15, 2006 from the Forest Hills home she shared with her husband, Perry and the couple’s two children, Samson and Tzipora. Two weeks after her disappearance, Janet March’s parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, went to Metro Police.

Perry March quickly became a suspect in his wife’s disappearance, repeatedly telling Metro Police detectives that he had nothing to do with it and refusing to allow the detectives to talk to his children. Within months, Perry moved to Chicago, taking the children with him. After a brief stay in Illinois, March moved his family to Ajijic, Mexico. He eventually got remarried there and was joined in Mexico by his father, Arthur.

Metro Police continued to investigate Janet’s disappearance over the next nine years, checking out reports of sightings and probing new leads, but they never found her body or solved the mystery of her disappearance.

In December of 2004, a Davidson County grand jury indicted Perry March on charges of second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Then, early on the morning of Wednesday August 3, 2005, federal agents seized March in front of a restaurant in Mexico and extradited him to the United States to face the charges laid forth in the indictment.

March was first taken to Los Angeles, CA before being accompanied by detectives from the Metro Police department on a flight back to Nashville. When he returned, nine years after his wife’s disappearance, March faced a Metro night court commissioner. He has been in jail ever since.

Following his arrest, Perry March’s legal troubles took a bizarre turn when he was implicated by another Davidson County jail inmate in a plot to have his former in-laws murdered. That inmate, Russell Nathaniel Farris, said Perry March tried to acquire his services as a hitman to kill the Levines. Farris told police about the plot and March was formally charged with conspiracy to commit murder. That case went to trial earlier this year and March was convicted of the crime, due in large part to the testimony given by Farris and taped conversations between the two in which they discussed the crime.

The investigation into the murder-for-hire plot had one more surprise: Early on the morning of January 5, 2006, Perry March’s father, Arthur March, was arrested by U.S. and Mexican authorities near his home in Ajijic, Mexico. Arthur was taken to Guadalajara and within days, he too was in the United States facing charges of conspiracy to kill the Levines. Arthur’s voice can be heard on tape talking with Russell Nathaniel Farris about the plot to commit the murders. Those recordings were played in court in Perry March’s conspiracy and murder trials.

Janet March’s body has never been found, and even in closing arguments of the murder trial, Perry March’s defense attorneys have maintained that there is no evidence that Janet March is dead. They have also argued that Perry had nothing to do with her disappearance. At the request of the Levines, Janet March was declared dead by a court several years after her disappearance, and although he’s considered a suspect in her disappearance, Perry March had never been arrested before August of 2005.

Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, have long felt Perry March was responsible for their daughter's disappearance, and they have fought with him for years over the custody of their grandchildren.

Perry March has also been convicted in another trial this year on charges of stealing $23,000 from Lawrence Levine’s law firm. He will be sentenced on all three convictions at a hearing on September 6th.

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