Thermal man acquitted of killing baby daughter in crash, convicted of child abuse
A felon was acquitted today of causing the death of his infant daughter in a high-speed crash on the south end of Palm Desert.
A Riverside jury deliberated nearly three days in the trial of 58-year-old Marcus Novell Green of Thermal before returning with not guilty verdicts on charges of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for the June 27, 2016, death of 5-month-old Armani Green.
The jury, however, convicted Green of a misdemeanor child abuse count.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy Hollenhorst immediately sentenced the defendant to a year in jail for the conviction, but with credit for time served behind bars awaiting trial, the sentence was nullified, and the defendant was released from custody at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.
His ex-girlfriend, 29-year-old Kristen Lauer of Rancho Mirage, pleaded guilty in 2019 to second-degree murder and child cruelty and was sentenced by Judge Burke Strunsky to a lifetime term of probation.
Strunsky justified the sentence by pointing to the physical impairments, including a brain injury, Lauer suffered because of the wreck. He downplayed the part she played in it, describing hers as a "neglectful criminal act," not a deliberate one.
Armani was sitting on her mother's lap, not restrained in a car seat, when the crash occurred on a segment of Highway 74 that is narrow and courses through hills.
According to prosecutors, Green was likely driving up to 60 mph on a segment of the corridor where the speed limit is 30 mph due to steering hazards.
The defendant was at the wheel of a modified 2015 Porsche sports coupe and lost control, causing the vehicle to skid toward the shoulder and plow through a guardrail, after which it plunged down a 200-foot embankment, prosecutors said.
Armani was hurled 90 feet from the car when it overturned, suffering catastrophic injuries. The infant was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics less than an hour later.
According to court records, Green has prior convictions for firearm assault, robbery and theft going back to the early 1990s.
