AG's Office motion claims deputy marshal used position to 'satisfy his sexual desires'

Norris Greenhouse Jr., accused of 2nd degree murder in the death of a 6-year-old boy, used his position as a law enforcement officer to “satisfy his sexual desires,” a motion filed by state prosecutors alleges. Among the targets of that desire was the then-girlfriend of the father of that slain child.

Defense attorney George Higgins III blasted the Attorney General’s motion as a “thinly veiled attempt to tarnish my client’s reputation.” Higgins said he was unaware of the state’s motion, filed in the Avoyelles Parish Clerk of Court’s office last Friday, until this past Monday.

A clerk’s office employee said the motion was “under seal” and could not be released. Higgins said the motion “is not sealed, but should have been.” He said at least one news organization had obtained a copy of the motion by Monday. That was apparently the Advocate, which posted a story online Monday night.

Greenhouse is accused of 2nd degree murder in the death of 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis and attempted 2nd degree murder of the boy’s father, Christopher Few, in connection with a traffic pursuit on the night of Nov. 3, 2015. Greenhouse and Derrick Stafford were working as Ward 2/Marksville City Marshal’s deputies when they and two other law enforcement officers cornered Few at the dead-end of Martin Luther King Dr. in Marksville. Greenhouse and Stafford fired 18 bullets into the vehicle.

Stafford was convicted of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter last month and sentenced to a total of 40 years. Greenhouse's trial is set for June 12.

STATE ALLEGATIONS

There are several alleged incidents in the motion that Assistant Attorney General Matthew Derbes said proves that Greenhouse “has established a pattern of approaching women or teenage girls while 'on the clock' as a law enforcement officer and using the means at his disposal due to said employment to solicit those victims in an effort to satisfy his sexual desires.”

Those include a claim that Greenhouse made “more than one” sexual advance on Megan Dixon while he was in his law enforcement uniform and driving a patrol car. He allegedly made those advances “under the guise of wanting her to work as a confidential informant” but then would “quickly transition to wanting some sort of sexual contact.”

Another incident was in January 2012, when the mother of a 14-year-old girl told the Avoyelles Sheriff’s Office that she found Greenhouse lying on a sofa with her daughter after midnight. He was fully clothed in his APSO uniform and drove off in the patrol unit he had parked outside.

Greenhouse was was fired from the Sheriff’s Office shortly after that incident.

The motion states that APSO investigated the incident. Greenhouse had admitted to going to the house three times when the mother wasn’t home, but said there was never any physical or sexual contact. The girl confirmed that Greenhouse never touched her or talked about anything sexual, but said the incident made her feel uncomfortable.

Greenhouse told the investigators he had texted a 16-year-old girl and asked her to send a photo of her breasts, the prosecutors allege.

There were apparently several Facebook posts and text messages with the girls. The motion notes that Greenhouse said he deleted those so his girlfriend would not see them.

HIGGINS' COMMENTS

Higgins said the allegations in the motion “are completely unfounded.

“Frankly,” he continued, “it is disappointing and concerning that the Attorney General’s Office will not allow the case to be tried using facts. Instead, they have chosen this route -- using allegations from years ago as a thinly veiled attempt to tarnish my client’s reputation prior to trial by using clearly inadmissible and unfounded allegations.”

Higgins said the public is “smart enough to know a distraction when they see one.”

He sarcastically added that the AG’s Office “believes this to be helpful in determining what happened the night of the shooting” of Nov. 3, 2015. “The AG’s Office is well-aware that these allegations are irrelevant and inadmissible at trial.”

Higgins said the allegations the prosecutors seek to introduce at trial are not the same as the “bad acts” evidence they introduced at Stafford’s trial.

“That was about allegations of abuse by Stafford in his capacity as a police officer,” Higgins said. “That is not the case with these allegations.”

The prosecution's motion makes the same claim as it did in the “bad acts” of Stafford -- to establish evidence of a behavior pattern it plans to prove contributed to the tragic events on that dead-end street. Prosecutor's claim this behavior pattern could help explain why Greenhouse initiated the pursuit.

Higgins said that while the substance of the motion is cause for concern, “adding insult, we did not receive a copy, phone call or any notice of their motion until today (Monday), when the motion was filed several days ago."

Higgins said the lapse in communication between the defense and prosecution “is surprising, because the Attorney General's Office has emailed my office on a regular basis.”

He noted that the impact of this type of maneuver could taint the jury pool.

“I can only speculate that, for some reason, the AG's Office does not want to try the Norris Greenhouse Jr. case in Avoyelles Parish,” Higgins remarked.

Motions in the case are expected to be heard on May 2.

Asked if he has recently filed any motions in Greenhouse’s defense, Higgins said, “No, but I’m about to file a bunch.”