THOMAS GREEN, MAN WHOSE SEX-ABUSE CONVICTIONS WERE OVERTURNED, DIES

rnrnrnNewsday.com/Patricia Kitchenrn
9/27/13rn
In November 2004, Thomas F. Green, 67, of Hawthorne Street in Selden, was accused by a LongrnIsland schoolgirl who said she was raped for five years by Green, her mom's boyfriend, only to seernhim acquitted in a non-jury trial.  The girl ripped the judge saying she didn't get a fairrntrial because he kept dozing off during her gut-wrenching testimony.  A child advocacy grouprnsaid it filed a complaint against Suffolk County Court Judge Gary Weber, with the state Commissionrnon Judicial Conduct, claiming that he slept while the 15 year old girl testified about how she wasrnsexually abused from when she was 5 to 10 years old.  Parents for Megan's Law executiverndirector Laura Ahearn said the acquittal wouldn't have happened if Weber had remained awake duringrnthe girl's testimony.  Green was acquitted on charges that he raped the girl fromrn1993-1998.  The girl had informed her crack-addict mom about the abuse, but the mother died ofrna drug overdose before she could go to the cops.  Later as a teen, she finally told her realrndad about what had happened and he went to authorities.  But in a non-jury trial in Novemberrn2004, Weber acquitted Green of all charges.  The girl said Weber had repeatedly put his headrnin his hands and snoozed as she relived the horrific memories of rape in testimony for twornhours.  In a prepared statement, Weber denied the girl's claims.rn
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The Suffolk grandfather faced new charges of abusing two other children.  Green wasrncharged with first degree sodomy, first degree sexual abuse of a child younger than 11 and otherrncharges.  He was arrested January 10, 2008 and indicted on April 16.  He was free onrn$50,000 cash bail and was arraigned on May 7 before Acting State Supreme Court Justice MichaelrnMullen.  Ahearn declined to comment on the new allegations, except to say, The issue that isrnof paramount importance at this time is to ensure that justice is served. 
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rnrnrnThe attorney for Green said the allegations are nothing more than retaliation\rnby authorities frustrated because his client was acquitted once before on similar charges. rnGreen pleaded not guilty on May 7 and was released after posting $50,000 bond.  The Suffolk DArnsaid Green abused five neighborhood girls, including a 6 year old relative, at his home betweenrn1998 and 2003.  The children would come to his house to play in his pool and forrnsleepovers.  They called him grandpa.rn
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Thomas Green was sentenced on July 16, 2009, to 35 years in prison.  He was convictedrnlast August of sexually abusing three girls in his neighborhood younger than 11 years old.  Arnjury found him guilty of seven out of 10 counts of the indictment that detailed the sex crimesrnbetween 1998 and 2003.
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rnrnrnOn September 6, 2013, a federal judge agreed to release Green from jail afterrnGreen's convictions were overturned, but his dire medical condition will keep him in the hospitalrnfor a while.  Since bail was set at $100,000 bond it may take some time to satisfy bailrnconditions so Green may not immediately be moved from the locked ward of the Peconic Bay MedicalrnCenter in Riverhead to a regular bed.  After onocologist Marilyn McLaughlin confirmed arnprevious diagnosis that Green has cancer throughout his body, the Suffolk district attorney'srnoffice dropped its opposition to his release.  Judge Arthur Spatt threw out the 2008 sexualrnabuse convictions, ruling that evidence corroborating the girls' stories could not have existed atrnthe time the crimes supposedly happened in the late 1990s.  rnrnrn

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rnrnrnGreen died of cancer on September 26 at Stony Brook University Hospital.rn
(New York)rn
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