Perry March Spends Second Night In California Jail
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 6, 2005
March, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the disappearance of his wife Janet almost nine years ago, is being held at the Van Nuys Community Police Station in Los Angeles County.
March was brought to California after being arrested in Mexico Wednesday morning by United States law enforcement officials.
Perry March has been alone in a cell in the California jail, and is allowed one visitor per day, for 15 minutes. He met with a Los Angeles attorney Wednesday, and has spoken to his Nashville attorney, John Herbison, by phone.
March has been accused of murdering his former wife, Janet March, who disappeared from their Forest Hills home in August 1996.
Investigators said they have enough proof to build a case against March.
March is being held without bond, and is scheduled to face a judge Friday morning.
He is expected to waive extradition, meaning could be brought back to Nashville early next week.
He's been charged with second degree murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
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Perry March Arrest: What's Next For His Children?
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 6, 2005
Since Janet March's disappearance almost nine years ago, her parents have been involved in a bitter legal battle with Perry March to over custody of the couple's two children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed). But now that their father has been arrested, the childrens' future is uncertain.
The March children have been living in Mexico with their father, Perry, and his new wife, Carmen for several years.
Carmen March spoke to NewsChannel 5 Thursday and said both of the children were still with her following their father's arrest, and that she planned to continue taking care of them.
"I love the kids. I always take care of them as they were mine," she said.
Phil Smith, a Nashville family law attorney, said the battle over who should have custody of the two children could depend largely on whether Carmen takes the step of officially adopting them.
"In regard to adoption, she would step in the shoes of the biological parent and have the same rights," Smith said.
John Herbison, an attorney who has represented Perry March in the past, said while (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) have not been adopted by Carmen, Perry March said they do have visas, and if they're in Mexico legally, they could stay with her. Also, Perry March could delegate his parental authority to his wife Carmen if the children are in Mexico legally.
But legal experts said If Janet March's parents file a custody action and manage to take custody of their grandchildren away from Perry March, Carmen would not have any claim to the children and would not be allowed to keep them.
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March Appears In California Court; Waives Extradition
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 6, 2005
Perry March will return to Tennessee to face murder charges in the death of his wife, Janet.
Friday, Los Angeles Criminal Court Commissioner James Bianco granted March's request to waive extradition and return to Nashville.
NewsChannel 5's Nick Beres was in the courtroom when March was brought before the judge, and said March looked tired and unshaven.
March was represented by Bret Fossett, a former classmate of his at Vanderbilt University.
March was being held on a fugitive warrant following his arrest by the FBI on Wednesday in Mexico.
Fossett said March was eager to get to Nashville and move forward with the case.
"Anyone can see that this is a father who has been ripped away from his family without notice. He was not a fugitive from justice, he was not given the opportunity to voluntarily appear in Nashville to face these charges. He was seized and, I think, just as a human being, you can say he is concerned. Anyone would be in the same situation," Fossett said. "(March) wants to get to trial as soon as possibile so he can get home and see his family as soon as possible."
March did not acknowledge the media in the courtroom and only spoke to his attorney.
March will remain in a Los Angeles jail cell until Metro Police Detectives go to California next week and bring him back to Nashville. A judge set a deadline o August 19th for March's return to Tennessee.
Upon his return, he will be taken through Metro night court, where he will be booked on a grand jury indictment charging second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
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Where Are Perry March's Children?
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 6, 2005
The FBI and the Mexican authorities are looking for them, and the kids grandparent's have filed a lawsuit saying March and his family are hiding them.
March's kids have grown up without their mother and they have been in the midst of a bitter custody dispute between their father and grandparents. (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) have traveled back and forth between Nashville and Mexico as court decisions have been reached and overturned over the years.
Now the Levine's, who are the children's grandparents, have filed a new motion in Federal Court. The lawsuit says "March or his agents are secreting the children to hide them from Mexican authorities in violation of Mexican law." It goes on to say "As the children's closest non-incarcerated relatives in the United States, the Levines would like to care for their grandchildren."
Investigators with the FBI confirm that Mexican authorities are looking for the children. Perry March's wife has made it clear in recent phone conversations that the children are with her wife and are safe.
The Levine's produced Mexican documents that indicate the children were supposed to be turned over to the U.S. consulate. The papers also show just days before March was arrested, Mexico denied immigration status for him and his children.
Authorities claim they recieved, "various complaints and denounciations" from local citizens about Perry March.
Mexican Authorities said Perry March, "shall have his immigration status cancelled and shall be expelled from the country."
This case will go before Judge Trauger in Federal Court. She has ruled on some of these issues in the past. But the main issue now is for Mexican authorities to find the two children.
You can read the Levine's petition and see the deportation documents that brought Perry March back to the U.S., on this website.
And you'll also find a complete history of the investigation into Janet March's disappearance, and the custody battle over the children.
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Janet and Perry: Early promise went bad quickly
by IAN DEMSKY
The Tennessean (Nashville, TN) - August 7, 2005
March mystery deepens 9 years later
Forty-eight days after his wife's mysterious disappearance, Perry March said in an interview, "I am innocent."
"If she was captured by Moonies, if she didn't do this on her own, I'm going to hug her and I'm going to bring her home, and I'm going to do whatever I have to do to make her whole again," he told The Tennessean in 1996.
For almost a decade, the clues and rumors of the case have been discussed by those who were close to the Marches and total strangers who followed the case in the Nashville and national media.
The 9-year-old case has been a high-profile mystery because of the intricate circumstances, an international flavor and because it involved a couple who went to the best of schools and lived in one of Davidson County's most fashionable neighborhoods.
Did Perry March kill his wife? Was there enough evidence to show that a crime had even been committed? Would he ever be charged?
Last week, Perry March was deported from Mexico, escorted out of the country by FBI agents on a fugitive-from-justice warrant. That federal warrant was based on an 8-month-old secret and sealed murder indictment here.
The 44-year-old Vanderbilt law graduate waits in a Los Angeles jail for Metro detectives to bring him back this week to face charges that he killed Janet Levine March, disposed of her body and then tampered with evidence.
But what really happened to Janet March remains a mystery -- as does the evidence a Davidson County grand jury heard in December.
The early years
Perry March and Janet Levine met in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1982 while both attended the University of Michigan.
Perry was born in East Chicago in northwest Indiana and received his undergraduate degree in Asian studies. He was a member of the U of M Honors Student Council.
Janet was two years younger and had graduated from the University School in Nashville in 1981. Vice president of her high school class, she was always a favorite with the boys, her friends remembered. In her senior yearbook, she was described as a sincere girl with pretty eyes -- an ideal prom queen.
Perry came to Nashville to study law at Vanderbilt University and married Janet in 1987. He earned his law degree in 1988 after serving as associate editor of the law review, winning an American Jurisprudence Award in property class and playing on the law school soccer team. He strummed guitar well enough to entertain and spoke fluent Chinese, one friend recalled. Perry also trained in martial arts.
Carolyn Levine, Janet's mother, became almost a surrogate mother to Perry, CBS News' 48 Hours Investigates reported. Perry's own mother had died of a drug overdose when he was 9. Some of his friends were told that her death was accidental, others that it was suicide. She was 32.
Some who knew Perry described him as high-energy, hard-charging, aggressive and tenacious. But other adjectives came up, too: greedy, manipulative and deceptive.
Likewise, Janet, an artist and illustrator, was thought of as private, witty, reserved, creative, caring, full of life. One close friend remembered her as "one of the funniest people I know." A contractor whom she asked to make numerous changes during construction of her "dream" home on four secluded acres in Forest Hills said she could also be difficult and self-centered.
After graduation, Perry got a job with one of Nashville's most prominent law firms, Bass Berry & Sims, practicing corporate law. Three years later, in 1991, he was asked to leave the firm after an internal investigation pointed to him as the person who left a young paralegal there a series of sexually explicit letters.
A former classmate and Bass Berry colleague said a surveillance camera caught Perry leaving a note for the paralegal in a book in the firm's law library.
One of the lawyers for Janet's family said in Probate Court that Perry agreed to pay the woman $25,000 to avoid a sexual harassment lawsuit but that he had paid only half that amount by the time his wife disappeared.
Perry has refused to comment on why he left Bass Berry & Sims.
The Levines have declined to discuss the case since Perry's arrest Wednesday, but one of their lawyers, Jon Jones, said in a Davidson County Probate Court hearing that they believe a letter Perry wrote to the paralegal on his home computer on Aug. 13, 1996, "may have a significant relationship to why Janet is dead." He did not describe the contents of the letter or say how it may relate to Janet's disappearance, but he said the letter was mailed on Aug. 16, 1996. That's the day after Perry said he last saw Janet.
Metro police declined to comment on whether they had the letter or whether it existed.
It was unclear what, if anything, Janet knew about her husband's problems at the law firm or whether she confronted him about the letter on the night she disappeared.
After leaving Bass Berry & Sims, Perry went to work for his father-in-law, Lawrence Levine, at Levine Mattson Orr & Geracioti, where he practiced corporate law until his wife disappeared.
Several of Perry's friends said he told them that he moved to the much smaller firm because he wanted more freedom to pursue his own legal interests than he would have as an associate with a much larger firm.
Meanwhile, Janet was making a name for herself as an artist. She had several exhibits of her paintings at the now-defunct Cakewalk restaurant, off West End Avenue. She painted a tree at Finezza, which has since been painted over, and a large bar scene just inside Tin Angel. She had helped design the couple's 4,762-square-foot house.
Janet was said to have doted on their children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed), who were 5 and 2 when they last saw their mother.
The disappearance
Perry told The Tennessean that he and his wife had "routine" marital problems and had discussed divorce but were still in love. The day after Janet disappeared, however, she was apparently planning to meet with a divorce lawyer.
Having spent several nights away from their home on the advice of an unnamed therapist, Perry said, he and Janet reconciled their differences on Aug. 13, 1996.
After putting the children to bed two days later, the couple had a tense discussion and Janet told him that he couldn't take any more vacations, sticking her with the household responsibilities.
"She went into my study and typed out a to-do list for me that was designed to be like a contract," Perry told The Tennessean.
She printed out the list, titled "Janet's 12-Day Vacation," and made him sign it, according to one of Perry's former attorneys.
The list included changing light bulbs, balancing his checkbook, cleaning the basement -- "You know, just a various list of things that I had seemed to have dropped the ball on in the course of my 10 years with her," Perry told 48 Hours.
"She said, 'See ya,' " Perry recalled to The Tennessean. "Those are the last words Janet said to me."
Janet had stormed out of the house several times but never left overnight, he acknowledged. She took her passport and a large amount of cash, he said.
Perry said he contacted Janet's parents late on Aug. 15 and told them their daughter had left. Perry and his father-in-law went the next day to Nashville International Airport to look for her car, one of his attorneys said.
Wanting to respect her privacy and not wanting to publicly air the couple's marital problems, a decision was made not to go to the police, Perry said.
Perry and his in-laws went ahead with plans for (Name Removed)'s sixth birthday party on Aug. 25 at Dragon Park on Blakemore Avenue, near Hillsboro Village. They made up a story for friends that Janet had gone to visit relatives in California and could not fly home becauseshe had an ear infection. Many who knew Janet commented that she never would have missed her son's party or his first day of school.
Two weeks after Perry said she disappeared, on Aug. 29, he told Metro police that his wife was missing.
The delay was "the biggest mistake we ever made," Lawrence Levine told 48 Hours. "But Perry kept telling us, 'Maybe she went here, maybe she went there.' ... We believed him."
The investigation
On Sept. 7, Janet's new Volvo 850 sedan was discovered parked at the Brixworth Apartments on Harding Road. Her purse and personal items were inside. A pair of her sandals appeared to have been carefully placed, rather than simply dropped, in front of the vehicle, according to a report in Nashville Scene.
Perry refused to take a lie-detector test about his wife's disappearance, saying that he had been taking anti-stress medication that might skew the results.
Soon police began to focus more and more attention on Perry. He was labeled a suspect in her "disappearance and/or homicide," and what cooperation he initially offered evaporated.
On Sept. 17, 1996, while investigators executed a search warrant, 50 Metro police recruits combed the Marches' wooded property. A backhoe was brought in to aide the search.
Investigators were particularly interested in Perry's computer but found that the hard drive had been ripped out.
From the couple's home, police seized a stained bath mat and shirt, more than 20 computer disks, a magazine, a letter, a legal pad, assorted notes and "fiber trace evidence." Investigators have never commented on blood-test results from the mat and shirt or on the significance of any of the items.
Perry's camp has contended that if there had been any significant finds, he would have been charged a long time ago.
Police also searched Perry's office at the downtown law firm and an apartment he had recently rented near Vanderbilt University after, he said, Janet had threatened to throw him out of their home, which was titled in her name.
An affidavit supporting one search warrant cited "verified reports of domestic violence which Mr. March has given false or misleading statements about." But police refused to elaborate on those reports, except to say officers had never been dispatched to the March home on a domestic violence call.
Six days after Janet disappeared, Perry replaced the tires on his Jeep, a Metro police detective told 48 Hours.Perry contended that replacing the vehicle's bald tires was on his to-do list, but police said the tire company had questioned Perry because the original tires seemed fine.
Metro police also had several witnesses tell them they saw a new Oriental rug rolled up near a doorway into Perry's study and Janet's art studio inside their home, according to 48 Hours. The rug has never been found, and Perry denied its existence.
Nashville Scene also reported that at least one witness had noticed the rolled-up rug when she brought her son over for a play date the day after Janet disappeared. The Marches' son "bounced up and down on the rug," telling their visitor his mother was not at home, the article said.
In 2001, two Nashville television stations reported that a witness had come forward and told police that she saw an Oriental rug rolled up in a trash bin near a Belle Meade market.
A man the witness identified as Perry March told her a family dog was rolled up inside the rug and not to disturb it. In one station's account, the witness came back three hours later and the rug was gone but the man was still there sitting inside a car.
At the time, Metro police refused to confirm or refute the reports. One of Perry's attorneys dismissed the witness' account as unverifiable and said it smacked of an article published several years previously in the Scene.
In late September 1996, about a month after he reported his wife missing, Perry cleaned his office and moved with his two children to Chicago. Police said he packed up his diplomas at the law firm but left behind a photograph of his wife taken on their wedding day.
Investigators wanted to question the Marches' 6-year-old son, but Perry refused to let them before departing for the upscale suburb of Wilmette, Ill.
A messy and contentious battle erupted between Perry and the Levines over the children and money from Janet's estate.
In May 1999, Perry moved to Mexico, taking the two children with him.
The Levines used a visitation order from an Illinois judge in June 2000 to take (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) from Mexico and bring them back to Nashville. In April 2001, the Levines returned the children to Perry March after a federal judge ordered them to do so. The following January, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the Levines of that judge's decision to send their grandchildren back to Mexico.
His arrest has left those watching the case from the outside guessing whether the authorities have recently unearthed a new, key piece of evidence or whether prosecutors simply decided that the evidence against Perry was as strong as it was ever going to be. o
This report was primarily complied from reports previously published in The Tennessean and the Nashville Banner. Material taken from other news sources is explicitly identified. Ian Demsky can be reached at 726-5933 or idemsky@tennessean.com.
With father back in U.S., children should follow, motion by Levines says
Lawrence and Carolyn Levine have asked a federal judge in Nashville to rule that their grandchildren, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) March, cannot continue living in Mexico because their father, Perry March, has been expelled from the country.
Perry March faces second-degree murder charges here in the disappearance of Janet March, the children's mother.
The children have been living with Perry March in Mexico since 2001 when a federal judge ordered them returned to their father. The Levines, who had sued for custody of the children, used a visitation order from an Illinois judge to take the children from Mexico in 2000.
A three-judge federal appeals court panel later ruled that any action over custody or visitation would have to begin in Mexico, which had become the children's "habitual residence" when Perry March moved there with them in May 1999.
The Levines' motion in federal court says that, because March has been arrested and is in the United States awaiting trial on the murder charge, the children are not legally in Mexico because they are no longer in their father's custody.
The Levines asked that the courts find that Mexico is not the children's "habitual residence" and that they should be turned over to U.S. custody.
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Grand Jury Member Kept March's Indictment Secret
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 10, 2005
Last week's arrest of Perry March took most Nashville residents by surprise, but for a handful of people it was a well kept secret.
For eight months, Stan Fossick, who served on the grand jury that indicted March on a murder charge, didn't say a word, not even to his wife.
While March was living his new life in Mexico, Fossick and 12 others on a Davidson County Grand Jury spent a day hearing evidence in the case. They decided there was enough evidence to indict March and send the case to trial.
"I think had there been a leak at any level, there would have been a real good chance Perry March could have left Mexico and possibly get into custody where extradition was totally impossible," Fossick said.
Fossick said he could not discuss the evidence presented to the grand jury.
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Perry March's Wife Says Children Are Living With Relative In United States
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 10, 2005
Perry March's Wife Says Children Are Living With Relative In United States
The FBI and Mexican authorities have been looking for Perry March's children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed). Monday, March's wife Carmen said a Chicago judge has granted temporary custody of the children to Perry's brother, Ron.
The children have been caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between their father and the parents of their mother, Janet March.
Perry March moved to Chicago, then to Mexico after his wife's disappearance almost nine years ago. Just last week, he was arrested in Mexico and charged with second degree murder in Janet's death.
Janet March's parents filed a new motion in federal court late last week seeking custody of their grandchildren.
Ron March is an attorney in the Chicago area, and Carmen March said the children have been with Ron since late last week.
Metro police detectives are expected to travel to Los Angeles this week to bring Perry March back to Nashville. March could be back in Tennessee as early as Wednesday.
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Perry March's Father Talks About His Son's Arrest
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 10, 2005
Perry March was arrested in Mexico last week and charged with killing his wife, Janet, who disappeared almost nine years ago. For the past several years, Perry March's children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed), have been living with Perry, his new wife, Carmen, and Perry's father, Arthur, in Ajijic, Mexico.
NewsChannel 5's Nick Beres went to Ajijic and spoke to Arthur, who said the March family was living happily in Mexico until the FBI arrived last week.
"The next thing I know they kidnap my son. To say the least, I'm pissed," Arthur said.
In an exclusive on-camera interview with NewsChannel 5, Arthur said U.S. and Mexican authorities conspired to abduct Perry. He said he believes they did so at the urging of Janet March's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine.
"They kidnapped my kid. First they kidnapped my grandchildren, and the federal court admitted to it, and we got the kids back. The next thing I know, they kidnapped my son," Arthur said.
Perry March was arrested last week on a busy road in Ajijic and deported to the United States. (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) have been placed, at least temporarily, in the custody of their uncle, Ron March, who lives near Chicago.
But Carmen March, Perry's wife, said the children could soon be moved to a more secret location. She said ultimately, she wants them back in Mexico.
(Name Removed) is 11 years old, and (Name Removed) will turn 15 later this month. Arthur March said the children now consider Ajijic their home.
"The kids are doing fine, they've never been so happy in their life. They're bilingual, they're the top students at the school," Arthur said.
Arthur March and Perry's wife, Carmen, have filed formal complaints with Mexican immigration officials, arguing that Perry was illegally deported.
Perry March is expected to be brought back to Nashville later this week.
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Lack Of Physical Evidence Likely To Affect March Trial
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 10, 2005
Perry March will soon be brought back to Nashville to face charges of murdering his wife Janet nine years ago. But some legal experts question whether there is sufficient evidence to link March to the crime.
March's trial could rely heavily on circumstantial evidence. The indictment handed down in December charging March with his wife's murder reportedly does not spell out why police think he committed the crime.
"They might have some physical evidence that we don't know about. The state, more than likely in my opinion, is going to portray Perry March as a person who is very overbearing, a person that can convince you of things because of his deceiving mind," criminal defense attorney Tommy Overton said.
Perry March said Janet left the couple's home on the night of August 15th, 1996, and said she would be back on the 27th. Her car was eventually found parked at an apartment complex a few miles away.
Police said they have several witnesses that will testify Janet March had appointments over that two-week span, and that Perry's version of events isn't consistent with the way Janet did things.
"She's not a person that would have planned a birthday party for one of her children and not show up for that birthday party," Overton said. "She's not a person who would leave her purse and other belongs in a vehicle at some apartment complex."
Some of the most interesting testimony in March's trial could come from the couple's two children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed), who were the only other people at the March home the night Janet disappeared.
If the children do take the stand in their father's trial, prosecutors may argue that they have been with Perry for most of their lives, and that he has a great deal of influence over them.
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Witness To Perry March's Arrest Talks About The Incident
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 10, 2005
Perry March was arrested a week ago in Ajijic, Mexico. He was taken at gunpoint by federal officials and brought back to the United States to face charges of murdering his wife, Janet. Only one person witnessed March's arrest that day, and he spoke exclusively to NewsChannel 5's Nick Beres.
Federal agents arrested March outside the cafe he owns in Ajijic. But questions about exactly how March was arrested have gone unanswered by officials. The only witness to the arrest was March's gardener, Alejandro Ochoa. Through an interpreter, Ochoa talked about what he saw.
"The morning Perry was abducted, how did it happen?" Nick asked. "I've never seen anything like this, because I've never seen four cars coming with ten people with guns," Ochoa said.
Ochoa said March was just arriving for work when men in cars with tinted windows sped to the curb and grabbed him.
"I was scared. I didn't know what was going on," Ochoa said. "Were they Hispanic or did they look like American agents?" Nick asked.
"Mexican people," Ochoa responded.
"Did you ever see identification? Did they ever show you any ID?" Nick asked.
"No. I asked the police who they were, and they said, "We are Federal." I asked the Police why they wanted to take (March) and they said they didn't know anything about this," Ochoa responded.
Ochoa said he was stunned by what was happening. He was standing nearby watching the events unfold when he said agents tried to grab him too. Ochoa resisted, and said the agents left him and sped away with Perry March in a convoy.
He said the whole incident took less than three minutes.
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March Likely Will Return To Nashville Friday
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 11, 2005
Former Nashville attorney Perry March, who's accused of murdering his wife nine years ago, likely will return to Nashville Friday.
Once he arrives, the long process of getting the murder case against him ready for trial will begin.
The indictment does not spell out why police think March killed his wife, Janet, but there are some theories.
"The state, in my opinion, is going to portray Perry March as a person who is very overbearing, a person that can convince you of things because of his deceiving mind," said Tommy Overton, a criminal defense attorney in Nashville.
Police listed several witnesses in the indictment. Those witnesses are expected to help tell the story of what police believed happened.
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Neighbors In Mexico Talk About Perry March And His Arrest
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 11, 2005
Those who know Perry March in Mexico say they have strong feelings about him, and about his arrest on murder charges. Recently, some of March's friends and enemies spoke to NewsChannel 5's Nick Beres in Ajijic about the Perry March they know.
Perry March's children by his first wife, Janet are no longer small kids. (Name Removed) is now 11 years old, and (Name Removed) will turn 15 later this month. Their grandfather, Arthur March, said they are now old enough to know that their father has been charged with murdering their mother.
Opinion is split on two questions among those who know the March family best in Mexico: Is Perry guilty of murder, and should he and his family be allowed to keep custody of the children?
Gayle Cansienme retired to Mexico planning to live on her investments, but instead, she's working at an Ajijic vet clinic.
Cansienme claims Perry March bilked her out of $450,000.
"He robbed me actually, and took my property that was in the United States. I had homes that I owned in the United States (that) he talked me into putting into a corporation for tax purposes. He showed me papers which said that I was president and sole owner of the corporation when in fact it was his corporation," Cansienme said.
March has denied the allegation, and though Cansienme said she doesn't expect to get her money back, she's glad March was arrested for Janet's murder.
"I was delighted, yes. And I was surprised because it's been a long time. They were trying to indict him and extradite him, and I'm very glad," Cansienme said.
Don Leach is a business associate of March's in Ajijic. He said knows little about the murder case against March, but, said Perry is a good father.
"Oh sure I know them well. If they walked by now they'd go, `Hi Don, how are you?' They're great kids, and I've watched Perry parent. He's excellent," Leach said. "I felt bad for Perry because my experience with him has been very, very, very positive."
(Name Removed) and (Name Removed) are currently living with their uncle, Ron March, in the Chicago area. But a custody battle will likely play out in court between the March family and Janet's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine.
Perry March is expected to be brought back to Nashville from California on Friday.
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Perry March Back In Nashville
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 12, 2005
March, A former Nashville attorney who has been charged with his wife's murder, was brought back to Nashville from a Los Angeles jail Friday.
March left the Los Angeles jail with two Metro Detectives around 10 a.m. Friday. Police said March was restrained throughout his trip to Nashville.
March was taken through night court at the Criminal Justice Center in downtown Nashville just after 10:00 Friday evening. He was informed of the charges against him by the night court commissioner, and told that he would not be allowed to post bond Friday. March said he understood that, and also that he understood the charges against him.
After his appearance in court, March was taken to a cell within the Special Management Unit of the metro jail. He will be alone in of the unit's 22 cells. That is the same section of the jail that held Paul Reid for more than two years. March will be allowed two visitors, two days a week, and will be allowed out of his cell for one hour each day. He will remain in jail for several days until a bond hearing scheduled for next week.
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said March was being placed in the special area of the jail in part to protect him from other inmates.
"A lot of times a new person to the system doesn't understand that they bring some sort of a trophy at times with their reputation, with their identity. Mr. March has had plenty of attention in the media, both now and over the years, and I think he will be, at least from the inmates side of things, an attractive person for them to be involved with, so we don't want to put him in any danger from that standpoint or anyone else in any danger," Hall said.
March was charged with second-degree murder for the death of his wife, Janet March, who disappeared nine years ago. Janet March's body has never been found. In an indictment handed down in December, March was also charged with tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
March was arrested last week in Ajijic, Mexico, where he has been living for several years with his two children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed), his new wife, Carmen, his father, Arthur March.
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Perry March in Jail on Anniversary of Wife's Disappearance
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 15, 2005
Perry March's wife disappeared nine years ago Monday. He is spending that anniversary in jail charged with her murder.
On August 15, 1996, Janet March disappeared from her Forest Hills home. On this, the ninth anniversary, Perry March is facing murder charges, almost a decade after his wife's death.
March didn't say much in Night court Friday night. Jailers say he's been just as quiet in his cell the last three days.
He spends almost 23 hours a day in a cell. March gets one hour out for recreation, showers and phone calls, although he's had trouble reaching his father and wife in Ajijic, Mexico.
"Calling Mexico is different than say, calling Antioch, but we're making arrangements," said Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall.
They're also making arrangements for March to have visitors. He's compiling a list of people he'll allow in to see him.
An attorney says March has found the isolation the most difficult part to deal with. The sheriff says it can also be the most dangerous.
"The first 72 hours are the most volatile time," said Hall. "Perry March fits the profile of inmates most likely to take their own lives -- young, white, and rarely arrested. While he's not on suicide watch, he is under close supervision."
"He's in our protective unit, our most secure environment. Mostly so we can evaluate his physical and mental status and know what we're dealing with," added Sheriff Hall.
Nashville attorney John Herbison spent a few hours with Perry March over the weekend. He says March is in the process of retaining him. We understand March met with a different attorney Monday.
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Technology To Aid Perry March's Court Appearance
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 17, 2005
When Perry March's case goes before a judge on Wednesday, he won't even leave jail to appear in court.
He'll be taken to a different part of the jail where he can participate in his court hearing via videoconference.
There's a camera, microphone and a monitor to show him what's happening in court. The same equipment is on the judge's end.
The video conferencing is used for routine court appearances like arraignments where there isn't a lot of paperwork and testimony.
Sheriff's deputies say this process is safer and easier than transporting prisoners from the downtown jail to the courts at Metro Center.
"Mr. March will sit here and the whole process will take about five minutes," said Juan Gomez-Hernandez of the Davidson County Sheriff's Department.
That's about as long as Perry March's night court appearance took Friday night. He said very little as the commissioner read the charges against him.
At Wednesday's hearing March will enter a plea and the judge could set bond.
In the meantime, Perry March remains under close supervision at the Metro Jail. An attorney who met with him over the weekend told NewsChannel 5 that March was "bewildered" on Saturday, but he was in better spirits by Sunday as he adjusted to his new surroundings.
The small cell is a different world from his manor in Mexico.
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Two Hearings Wednesday In March Case
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 17, 2005
Wednesday, two Nashville courtrooms will hear testimony related to the Perry March murder case.
Earlier this month March was charged with the murder of his wife, Janet, who disappeared nine years ago. Her body has never been found, but March was charged with second-degree murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
Wednesday, the juvenile court will hold a custody hearing involving March's children, (Name Removed), 14, and (Name Removed), 11.
The children lived with March in Mexico. After his arrest, the children were flown to Chicago where they've been living with March's brother, Ron March.
The children have been in the middle of a custody battle between March and Janet March's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, that has lasted for several years.
Lawrence Levine and Perry March both arrived at the Juvenile Court Wednesday morning. March was shackled and was surrounded by sheriff's deputies. He wore a yellow, jail-issued jumpsuit.
In a second court hearing, March will be formally arraigned on criminal charges. He will appear in court from the Metro Jail via video. The hearing should only last a few minutes.
March will likely enter a plea to the charges and the judge will decide if a bond will be set for March.
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| Perry March |
March's Defense Team Includes Prominent Attorney
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 18, 2005Perry March is getting help from a longtime Memphis lawyer in his second degree murder case.
March entered a not guilty plea in criminal court Wednesday. He's accused of second degree murder in the disappearance of his wife, Janet, nine years ago.
One of the lawyers March has chosen for his defense team is William Massey, a Memphis lawyer who has been involved in some of that city's most publicized cases.
Massey defended three Memphis daycare workers who were charged with murder after a young girl was left inside a hot van. He also defended a prominent discount store owner who the FBI claimed sold thousands of dollars worth of stolen property to unknowing customers.
And Massey is currently serving as the lead defense attorney for state senator Kathryn Bowers, who was indicted in the Operation Tennessee Waltz sting.
Massey, who is the current President-elect of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, has been practicing law in Memphis for more than 20 years.
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March Pleads Not Guilty To Charges Of Killing His Wife
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 18, 2005
Perry March faced two court appearances Wednesday. In the first, he entered a not guilty plea to charges of killing his wife, Janet, nine years ago. In the second, he fought for custody of his children.
Janet March disappeared from the couple's Forest Hills home in August of 1996, and her body has never been found. Perry March was indicted in December on murder charges in connection with her disappearance, and he was arrested in Mexico earlier this month.
March has assembled a defense team that includes two attorneys from Memphis along with John Herbison, a Nashville lawyer who has represented March in the past.
March appeared in Metro criminal court Wednesday with shackles around his ankles, and wearing a business suit instead of his jail jumpsuit. "Perry simply wanted to appear looking as nice as he could, without an orange jumpsuit and with a suit on," said William Massey, one of March's lawyers. Perry March was supposed to appear before a judge via video feed, but a technical problem with a closed-circuit television system forced him to appear in person.
Wednesday's hearing lasted a matter of minutes. Prosecutors did not provide any new information about the evidence against March, who pleaded not guilty to charges of second degree murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
"It does appear to be an interesting case, and we want to know what new evidence the government has been able to come upon in the last nine years that brings this matter to a grand jury now, and eventually to open court," Massey said.
Perry March's attorneys said they hoped their client would be given a bond hearing in 30-45 days. Until that hearing, March will remain in jail.
Following his appearance to answer to the criminal charges, March returned to a Metro juvenile courtroom, where he was fighting for custody of his children. That hearing began earlier Wednesday morning, but was in recess when his criminal hearing was held.
March was in juvenile court trying to regain cutsody of his two children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed), from Janet March's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine. The Levines were granted temporary custody of the children late Monday by a Nashville judge. The children had been living with Perry March's brother, Ron, in Chicago following their father's arrest.
The Levines argued that they should be granted permanent custody of the children because Perry March had been arrested and deported from Mexico, and because he was found liable for Janet March's death in a civil trial several years ago.
"This is hard on Mr. March. It's hard enough facing charges from a secret meeting being brought against him. It's very hard facing those charges when you're also watching your children being taken away from you," Massey said.
(Name Removed) March testified for about an hour at the custody hearing, which lasted until late Wednesday evening. Carolyn Levine also took the stand and answered questions. Perry March was called to testify and did take the stand, but refused to say anything.
Judge Betty Adams green took the case under advisement, but did not make any decision Wednesday about custody of the March children. Judge Green did impose an order of confidentiality in the case, meaning attorneys for both sides were prohibited from commenting on it.
Judge Green gave attorneys for the Levines and Perry March a deadline of 4:30 p.m. Friday to file any additional information in support of their cases. After reviewing that new information, the judge will decide if the case should be heard in Mexico, Tennessee, Illinois or Michigan.
If Judge Green rules the case should be heard in Tennessee, she will decide if the Levines will get permanent custody of the children.
Both sides have indicated they would appeal the judge's ruling to a higher court if that ruling is not in their favor.
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Custody Battle Over Perry March's Children Takes Another Turn
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 26, 2005
Former Nashville attorney Perry March has been charged with killing his wife, Janet. The battle over custody of the couple's two children has been long and bitter, and Friday, for the first time, both sides addressed the media.
Standing side by side, Janet March's father, Lawrence Levine, along with her brother, Mark Levine, and attorneys for both sides read a statement on the latest in the confidential juvenile court case.
The statement made official what had been reported first on NewsChannel 5: Judge Betty Adams Green has awarded temporary custody of March's children to their grandparents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine.
"The public is very interested in what's going on with this family and we hope as a result of making this statement here, that would satisfy what you need to report in terms of reporting to the public," said juvenile court administrator Tim Adgent.
The statement also said the child custody case will be heard in Nashville rather than Chicago, Michigan or Mexico.
After his arrest in Mexico on murder charges, Perry March sent his children to live with his brother Ron in Chicago. But earlier this week, Judge Green awarded custody of the children to the Levines pending a custody hearing in Chicago.
No appeals have been filed yet be either side in this case.
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Judge Makes Ruling In March Custody Case
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 26, 2005
Judge Betty Adams Green ruled Tuesday that the hearing to decide who should get custody of (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) March will take place in Nashville.
Former Nashville attorney Perry March has been arrested and charged with murdering his wife Janet, who disappeared nine years ago.
Last week, Judge Green awarded custody of the children to Janet's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine.
Also at that time, the judge took the custody case under advisement to decide if it should be heard in Chicago, Mexico, Illinois or Nashville.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Judge Green ruled the case should be heard in Nashville, meaning that the children will remain with the Levines, pending the next custody hearing.
Perry March's brother Ron, who lives in Chicago, and Carmen Rojas, Perry's second wife, who lives in Mexico, are expected to appeal the decision.
Juvenile court officials declined to comment on the case because of an order of confidentiality placed by the judge.
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| Perry March |
New Details About Case Against Perry March Revealed
WTVF (Channel 5) - September 20, 2005
Attorneys for Perry March have gotten their first look at the District Attorney's evidence against March.
Attorneys on both sides of the case said they were hesitant to talk about the evidence at this stage, but new details are emerging, giving a better sense of the case prosecutors have against March for the alleged murder of his wife Janet.
A grand jury indicted March in December, and he was arrested last month in Mexico for the alleged murder of Janet March nine years ago.
The District Attorney wouldn't comment Thursday about the evidence against March, and details of the case have not been made public. But, March's attorney John Herbison, was provided with much of the evidence against his client by prosecutors Thursday.
Herbison requested the material as part of the discovery process leading up to trial.
He said he has just started reviewing the material, but that if there is a new bombshell piece of evidence, he hasn't found it yet.
Herbison did say there are lab reports in the file, which is significant because two experts in hair, fiber and blood evidence from the FBI Crime Lab in Washington D.C. are listed as potential witnesses for the prosecution.
Sources also told NewsChannel 5 that the officers who were with March after his arrest will testify about something he said during the trip back to Nashville.
Herbison would not comment on the nature of the conversation, but did say he wants a judge to exclude it from evidence.
With much of the state's case in his hand, Herbison said he plans to meet with March Thursday night to discuss his defense.
No trial date has been set for Perry March.
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Civil Trial Against Perry March Begins
WTVF (Channel 5) - September 20, 2005
Former Nashville attorney Perry March has been charged with killing his wife, Janet. But his legal troubles extend beyond the criminal charges. Janet March's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, are suing Perry March recover some of Janet's possessions.
The civil trial against March and his family began Monday in Nashville.
The Levines are suing Perry, his father, his sister and his brother to recover more than $200,000 worth of property or cash they say belongs to Janet.
Perry March was not in court Monday, and neither was his father, Arthur March.
But Perry's brother Ron, and sister, Cathy Briderwisch, were on hand, as were the Levines and their son, Mark.
The Levines are now conservators for Janet's estate, and they said the civil trial is intended to recover items they say the March family illegally took after Janet's disappearance nine years ago. Those items include paintings, furniture, a car, property and cash.
The Levines are seeking $220,000 in compensatory damages. They are also asking for an undisclosed amount in punitive damages.
The civil trial is being heard by a jury, and is expected to last a couple of days.
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Judge To Hear March-Levine Civil Case
WTVF (Channel 5) - September 19, 2005
Murder suspect Perry March is not only facing charges in the death of his wife Janet, he is also involved in a civil case.
On Monday, a judge will hear the lawsuit brought against March by the Levine's.
Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, have sued Perry March, his brother and sister hoping to recover many of their daughter's possessions.
Those include paintings and money.
NewsChannel 5 will be there for the hearing, so we'll have updates on NewsChannel 5.com as they become available.
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Atmosphere At Perry March Civil Trial Becoming Increasingly Tense
WTVF (Channel 5) - September 20, 2005
Perry March has been accused of killing his wife, Janet, nine years ago. His criminal trial on those charges is still to come, but in a heated and contentious civil trial, Janet's parents are suing Perry, along with his brother and sister.
Lawrence and Carolyn Levine are suing the Marches over more than $200,000 worth of belongings that they say belongs to Janet, not the family of their former son-in-law.
The courtroom environment in the trial has been stressful, and even the attorneys said they're feeling it.
"It's tense, even as advocates who are merely hired to espouse the positions of their respective clients it's tense," said Fletcher Long, an attorney for the March family.
Tuesday, the Levines' attorneys, C.J. Gideon, spent another day grilling Perry March's brother, Ron, on what happened to the possessions that the Levines feel should not have been taken by the March family. Gideon said there's no denying the obvious animosity between the two families.
"There's certainly tension between the families, no question about it. A lot of the tension is generated by the fact that Perry and his family have used the children as pawns," Gideon said.
For years, the Levines complained that Parry March would not allow them access to their grandchildren, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed). But a few weeks ago, a Nashville judge granted the Levines temporary custody of the children.
The civil trial is expected to wrap up on Wednesday, after the jury watches a videotaped deposition by Perry March. (Name Removed) March may also take the stand before the case is over.
On Thursday, Perry March will have a bond hearing as part of the criminal case against him.
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Perry March's Brother Wants Custody of The ChildrenWTVF (Channel 5) - September 20, 2005
Perry March's two children are staying with his former in-laws right now, while he sits in jail for the alleged murder of his wife Janet.
Perry's brother, Ron wants custody of the children. A judge in Chicago will hear the case Tuesday.
The kids, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed), were staying with Ron March immediately after Perry's arrest. But a judge in Nashville gave Janet's parents, Lawrence and Caroline Levine, custody of the teenagers. Now Ron March is fighting to get the kids back.
Meanwhile, March's legal troubles extend beyond the criminal charges. Janet March's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, are suing Perry March to recover some of Janet's possessions.
The civil trial against March and his family began Monday in Nashville.
The Levines are suing Perry, his father, his sister and his brother to recover more than $200,000 worth of property or cash they say belongs to Janet.
The Levines are seeking $220,000 in compensatory damages. They are also asking for an undisclosed amount in punitive damages.
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Perry March Calls Case Against Him "House of Cards"
Channel 5 News (WTVF) - September 26, 2005
For the first time since his arrest, Perry March speaks out, saying he's ready to defend himself.
NewsChannel 5 met with Perry March in a cell at Metro's Criminal Justice Center Monday. He appeared very calm during the interview saying he's ready to talk about his arrest and the charge that he murdered his wife, Janet, nine years ago. But he did request that his face not be shown because he hadn't had a chance to shower and shave in jail.
"The good thing for me in this case," March says, "is to finally put an end to accusations and allegations against me. I want a quick and fair trial."
At the bond hearing last week, Sgt. Pat Postiglione testified that March offered a plea for a five to seven year sentence in the case, but March says he never offered to make a deal. He says he did not and will not pursue a deal with District Attorney where he pleads guilty. He continues to maintain his innocence.
"I'm absolutely not interested in making a deal with anybody for something I did not do," says March.
When asked if he killed his wife. March responded, "Absolutely not."
In fact, March is ready to defend himself in court and says there still isn't any evidence against him. Janet's body was never found. March calls the case against him a "house of cards", and while he wishes he were never arrested, he welcomes the chance to clear his name.
"Nothing pleases me more than a final resolution to this. I look forward to trial and winning an acquittal," says March. "The police and DA had nine years and have spent money to build cases against me, a frame up,that's what I'm fighting right now."
March, who does get visitation with his children, says the hardest part of his arrest is being away from his family, and he misses them, but he's now focused on his defense.
March is still waiting for a judge to set his bond. The bond hearing was last week. The District Attorney asked for $2.5 million. Judge Steve Dozier is supposed to set bond any day. If it's anything close to that amount, March likely will not be able to post bond and will remain in jail until trial.
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Perry March Ready to Defend Himself
WKRN-TV (Channel 2) - September 27, 2005
For the first time since his arrest, Perry March speaks out, calling the case against him "a house of cards."
NewsChannel 5 met with Perry March in a cell at Metro's Criminal Justice Center Monday. He appeared very calm during the interview, saying he's ready to talk about his arrest and the charge that he murdered his wife, Janet, nine years ago. But he did request that his face not be shown because he hadn't had a chance to shower and shave in jail.
"The good thing for me in this case," March says, "is to finally put an end to accusations and allegations against me. I want a quick and fair trial."
At the bond hearing last week, Sgt. Pat Postiglione testified that March offered a plea for a five to seven year sentence in the case, but March says he never offered to make a deal. He says he did not and will not pursue a deal with District Attorney where he pleads guilty. He continues to maintain his innocence.
When asked if he killed his wife. March responded, "Absolutely not."
In fact, March is ready to defend himself in court and says there still isn't any evidence against him. Janet's body was never found. March calls the case against him a "house of cards", and while he wishes he were never arrested, he welcomes the chance to clear his name.
March, who does get visitation with his children, says the hardest part of his arrest is being away from his family, and he misses them, but he's now focused on his defense.
March is still waiting for a judge to set his bond. The bond hearing was last week. The District Attorney asked for $2.5 million. Judge Steve Dozier is supposed to set bond any day. If it's anything close to that amount, March likely will not be able to post bond and will remain in jail until trial.
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Perry March Ready to Defend HimselfWKRN-TV (Channel 2) - September 27, 2005
For the first time since his arrest, Perry March speaks out, calling the case against him "a house of cards."
NewsChannel 5 met with Perry March in a cell at Metro's Criminal Justice Center Monday. He appeared very calm during the interview, saying he's ready to talk about his arrest and the charge that he murdered his wife, Janet, nine years ago. But he did request that his face not be shown because he hadn't had a chance to shower and shave in jail.
"The good thing for me in this case," March says, "is to finally put an end to accusations and allegations against me. I want a quick and fair trial."
At the bond hearing last week, Sgt. Pat Postiglione testified that March offered a plea for a five to seven year sentence in the case, but March says he never offered to make a deal. He says he did not and will not pursue a deal with District Attorney where he pleads guilty. He continues to maintain his innocence.
When asked if he killed his wife. March responded, "Absolutely not."
In fact, March is ready to defend himself in court and says there still isn't any evidence against him. Janet's body was never found. March calls the case against him a "house of cards", and while he wishes he were never arrested, he welcomes the chance to clear his name.
March, who does get visitation with his children, says the hardest part of his arrest is being away from his family, and he misses them, but he's now focused on his defense.
March is still waiting for a judge to set his bond. The bond hearing was last week. The District Attorney asked for $2.5 million. Judge Steve Dozier is supposed to set bond any day. If it's anything close to that amount, March likely will not be able to post bond and will remain in jail until trial.
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Perry March's bond set at $3 million
WKRN-TV (Channel 2) - September 27, 2005
The attorney for Perry March says that he's "disappointed" after a judge set the former Nashville lawyer's bond at $3 million on Tuesday.
Judge Steve Dozier set the amount after a bond hearing last week. During the proceedings, a Chicago attorney who had been appointed guardian ad litem for March's children testified that he wouldn't comply with a court order granting visitation with his two children to the parents of March's wife, Janet Levine March, who disappeared in 1996. Shortly afterward, March and his children moved to Mexico and a contempt order was granted against him.
Also, an attorney attached to a civil case against March testified that the murder suspect has been held in contempt in that case five times and had submitted forged documents in the case. The judge found that "multiple contempt of court filings...do not evidence a good track record with the courts" and that March "has displayed a blatent attitude of disregard for the courts and its orders." Dozier also said there is no proof of employment options available to March in the Nashville area, as he's been disbarred from practicing law in Tennessee.
March's attorney John Herbison told News 2 that he is "disappointed" in the amount set for his bond. He also said that the large amount was added reason for his client to receive a speedy trial.
Perry March has been charged with second-degree murder in Janet's death, as well as tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse. He was arrested after being deported from Mexico in August. A trial date has not been set.
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Prosecutors Say March Had Help Hiding Wife's Body
Channel 5 News (WTVF) - October 4, 2005
Former attorney Perry March has been charged with killing his wife, Janet, nine years ago. Even though Janet's body has not been found, prosecutors in the case have said March may have had help in hiding or disposing of it.
March has maintained his innocence since his wife's disappearance, and he is currently in jail awaiting trial.
"He's doing okay, interested in his case, making suggestions to possible avenues we may want to go down," said March's attorney, John Herbison. March's defense team has received a specific list of evidence prosecutors plan to use in the trial, and prosecutors have suggested three men may have helped March dispose of the body.
In 2004, NewsChannel 5 asked one of Perry March's clients, Paul Eichel, if he helped dispose of Janet March's body.
"No way possible," Eichel responded.
And when NewsChannel 5 asked, "Do you know where Janet March's body is?" Eichel responded, "Not a clue."
Another alleged co-conspirator is Perry's father, Arthur March. He also denied the accusations, and said he didn't like the way federal agents arrested his son.
"The next thing I know they kidnapped my son, to say the least," Arthur said. "I'm pissed."
Prosecutors also believe a third man may have helped March, but little is known about him.
Perry March said he thinks he'll be acquitted on the murder charges. He and his attorney said the prosecution doesn't have much to go on because Janet March's body hasn't been found. March also questioned the murder charges, saying he doubts anyone will be able to prove Janet is actually dead.
March's attorney said he wasn't surprised to hear about the three alleged co-conspirators. He said theories that as many as three men could have been involved in disposing of Janet's body have been around for several years.
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Prosecutors Name Arthur March As A Possible Co-Conspirator in Disappearance of His Son's Wife, Janet
Channel 5 News (WTVF) - October 4, 2005
Prosecutors Name Arthur March As A Possible Co-Conspirator in Disappearance of His Son's Wife, Janet
First On 5, Arthur March said he was not involved in Janet's disappearance in any way.
Perry March is behind bars awaiting trial. He's been charged with killing his wife, Janet March. Now prosecutors say there's a chance he didn't act alone.
Prosecutors have named Arthur March, Perry's father, as a possible co-conspirator. NewsChannel 5 first spoke with Arthur in August, just days after Perry was arrested. Tuesday, in an exclusive interview, Arthur March said he had nothing to do with Janet's disappearance.
"How could I dispose of a body when there is no body. You're assuming. The court is assuming there's a body. They can't even prove she's dead," said Arthur March.
"My comment is this," He went on. "I wasn't even in the (explicative) country. I didn't get there till she had been gone a week."
One theory suggests that Arthur did not help in the murder of Janet, but did arrive from Mexico later to assist in the disposal of her body.
In this exclusive interview, Arthur said that idea is ridiculous. "I'm not sure she's dead. Nobody's proved to me she's dead, only the courts. And I have very little faith in the judges in Nashville and Tennessee."
Arthur March said he's now helping Perry's second wife Carmen run the family restaurant in Ajijic, Mexico. He said he rarely gets to talk with Perry and may soon visit.
But, if he comes to Nashville, he said he'll come on his own accord. Arthur almost dares prosecutors to charge him in connection with the case.
"Well, I'm telling them if they (explicative) want to come down here and serve me, go ahead and see what happens."
Arthur would not elaborate other than to say that he certainly would not come willingly.
For now, he'll remain in Mexico, running the restaurant and putting together the funds needed to pay for his son's legal defense.
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District Attorney Names Another Possible Co-Conspirator in Disappearance of Janet March
Channel 5 News (WTVF) - October 4, 2005
Local businessman, Paul Eichel once ran some of Nashville's most popular nightclubs. He had hired Perry March as his corporate attorney.
Speaking through a tube in his neck, Eichel denies any involvement in the disappearance of Janet March. He says he's just glad to be alive and there's no reason for him not to tell the truth about Janet.
Eichel says investigators have questioned him over the years about what happened to Janet. He told them he has no idea, but they won't listen.
"The bad part about it is the D.A.s and detectives when you tell them the truth, they don't like the answer you're giving, you're not cooperating with them," said Eichel.
Eichel said even though Perry worked as his attorney, the two never became friends, and Perry never called him to help dispose of Janet's body.
"He never called me to go to dinner, never a drink, and then he's going to call me to move a body. That's ridiculous," said Eichel.
Police did search some property once owned by Eichel, but found nothing.
In fact, he asked Perry himself about what happened to Janet.
"I said, `You won't tell me. How did this happen?' And he said, `Paul, I swear I didn't kill her.'"
To this day, Eichel says he has no idea whether Janet March was murdered or not.
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A reveals 3 March witnesses - State suggests defendant's dad, others may be co-conspirators
By AILENE TORRES
Tennessean - October 5, 2005
Story so far
Janet Levine March was last seen in August 1996.
When her husband, former Nashville lawyer Perry March, reported her disappearance two weeks later, he said she went on vacation and never returned.
In 1999, Perry March moved to Mexico with his two children, (Name Removed), now 15, and (Name Removed), now 11. There, Perry March married his current wife, Carmen Rojas Solorio.
While he was out of the country, the Davidson County Grand Jury indicted Perry March in the disappearance and death of his first wife.
In August 2005, Perry March was deported from Mexico and arrested upon his arrival in the U.S.
He is being held in Metro jail, in lieu of a $3 million bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 17.
Paul Eichel laughed at the idea that he helped get rid of Janet March's body.
In recently filed court papers, Eichel was among three people named as possible witnesses or co-conspirators in the death of the woman, who has been missing since 1996. Her body has never been found, but her husband, former Nashville lawyer Perry March, has been charged in her death.
Also named in the court documents were Arthur March, Perry's father, and Morris Clinard.
The filings came in response to demands from March's defense lawyers that prosecutors provide more information about the evidence against their client, citing discovery rules.
But in an interview with The Tennessean, Eichel insisted that the inclusion of his name in the prosecutors' filing was a mistake.
"I laughed about it because it is such a farce," he said yesterday.
John Herbison, one of March's defense attorneys, said implying that the men were accomplices is inappropriate.
"The reference to co-conspirators is grossly irresponsible," Herbison said. "There is no allegation of conspiracy made by the indictment in this case, and it is irresponsible and, I might add, highly unethical for prosecuting attorneys to identify uncharged persons as possible co-conspirators."
The names came along with a list of other discovery information, such as videos, hair samples and Eichel's property on Bellevue Manor Drive, which prosecutors may use as evidence in their case.
Tom Thurman, deputy district attorney general, said the office supplied the required information but refused to comment further.
Perry March is being held on a $3 million bond on charges of homicide and abuse of a corpse relating to his wife's disappearance.
Two weeks after she vanished, Perry March told police that his wife had gone on vacation and never came back. When he became the focus of the Metro police investigation, Perry March moved away with his two children from the marriage.
In 1999, he relocated to Mexico, where he lived with his children and current wife, Carmen Rojas Solorio, until he was arrested this summer.
His father, Arthur March, also has dismissed suggestions that he helped dispose of his daughter-in-law's remains. During an interview in August, Arthur March said police claimed he drove from southwestern Mexico to help get rid of the body.
"They claim there was a rug in the house, and I rolled the body up in the rug and brought it down here," Arthur March said while sitting on his front porch in Ajijic, Mexico. "It was just (not true)."
Eichel is a former client of Perry March's, Herbison said. Eichel used to operate the Music City Mix Factory on Second Avenue South. In 2001, he pleaded guilty to felonious money laundering totaling more than $10,000.
Eichel knew Clinard because they were married to the same woman at different times, he said. But Herbison said Perry March did not personally know Clinard, who died in 2000.
Herbison said he doesn't know whether Eichel or Arthur March will appear in court during the trial.
"They are being accused of criminal conduct without the opportunity to defend themselves or clear their names," he said. "They are not charged with anything. As to who the state will call as witnesses, that is within the state's control."
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March, father charged with plot to kill in-laws
They tried to hire Metro Jail inmate as hit man, authorities say
By SHEILA BURKE
Tennessean - Oct. 29, 2005
An east Nashville man with an extensive criminal history is the linchpin in the latest charges against former Nashville lawyer Perry March, who now stands accused of plotting to kill his former in-laws.
Perry March and his father, Arthur, have been indicted on charges that they tried to hire Russell Nathaniel Farris, also known as Bobby Givings, to kill Lawrence and Carolyn Levine.
March is accused of killing the Nashville couple's daughter, his wife, Janet Levine March, who disappeared in August 1996. Her body has never been found.
He has been jailed since August when he was deported from Mexico, where he had been living with his two children and new wife for the past six years.
While in the Metro Jail, authorities said, March "provided written information to Russell Farris that would assist him in committing the murders of the Levines."
"His father, Arthur March, agreed to pick up Mr. Farris from the Guadalajara, Mexico, airport and to provide him with housing and money after the murders were committed," Davidson County District Attorney General Torry Johnson said at a news conference yesterday.
"Finally, on (Thursday), after receiving a phone call from Russell Farris indicating that the murder of the Levines had actually occurred, Arthur March went to the airport in Guadalajara, Mexico, to pick up Mr. Farris," he said.
A Davidson County grand jury yesterday charged father and son with one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and two counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
Arthur March, 77, still lives in Ajijic, Mexico, about an hour from Guadalajara.
Local prosecutors said they encouraged the elder March to surrender voluntarily.
"If Mr. March fails to do so, we will undertake to have him arrested and extradited back to the United States to face trial," Johnson said.
Reached yesterday in Mexico, Arthur March denied knowing anything about the plot. "I don't know anybody by that name," he said of Farris. "I don't know. I have no idea what you are talking about.
"I'm in Mexico and I haven't been out of Mexico in several years and what they're talking about I don't know. My response is, talk to my lawyer, no comment."
Nashville attorney Dan Alexander, who represents Arthur March, said he would review the facts of the indictment and consult with his client. "We'll address it head-on," he said. "I'm going to make contact with Mr. March, gather as much information as I can, have a talk with him and maybe contact the prosecutor."
He would not say whether Arthur March would surrender.
Perry March was booked yesterday on the new charges and is expected to appear in court for an arraignment in the coming weeks.
Lawrence and Carolyn Levine declined to comment yesterday.
Perry March and his father are accused of soliciting Farris to kill the Levines during September and October of this year.
The Levines and the March family have had a bitter history full of legal battles and child-custody fights since shortly after Janet March's disappearance. The Levines have custody of Perry March's two children, Samson, 15, and Tzipora, 11, but their father is appealing the decision to place the pair with the grandparents.
The link that prosecutors say exists between Farris, 28, and Perry March could have begun in the Metro Jail, where both spent several weeks together in maximum security.
Prosecutors declined to say where Farris was yesterday, except that he was "safe."
But last night, an official with the Williamson County Sheriff's Department confirmed that Farris was being held in protective custody at the Williamson County Jail.
"We're holding him for Metro," said Williamson County Sheriff's Department Capt. Mike Dobbins.
The indictment offers no details about the written instructions that Perry March is accused of giving to Farris, or whether they were given at the Metro Jail.
Farris, of the 900 block of Russell Street, was booked into the Metro Jail on April 23, 2005, on several charges including three counts of attempted murder. He was released from jail on bail Oct. 7, Davidson County Sheriff's Office spokesman Rick Gentry said. Police records show he has been arrested in Metro dozens of times for a variety of crimes ranging from thefts to possession of drug paraphernalia, evading arrest, and assault.
Most recently, Farris has three open cases in Davidson County Criminal Court unrelated to his alleged involvement with Perry March. He is accused of shooting two people, robbing an Inglewood market and robbing a man at gunpoint in a home business.
Perry March's lawyer, John Herbison, described the latest allegations against his client as "bizarre."
"I don't want to comment on the credibility of particular witnesses, but just my background with Perry, he's been called a lot of things. I've never heard him called stupid."
Contiributing: Ailene Torres and Christian Bottorff of The Tennessean.
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Jailhouse talk may figure large in Perry March murder-by-hire caseBy Andy Cordan
News 2 - November 3, 2005
The Davidson County Grand Jury recently indicted former Nashville attorney Perry March and his father Arthur on allegations they tried to hire a hit man to kill Perry's in-laws, Carolyn and Lawrence Levine. The question is: what evidence do prosecutors have?
According to the indictment, oral, written, and electronic communications were involved when Perry and Arthur March allegedly contracted with inmate Russell Farris to kill the Levines. The question is: what was said, and how was it recorded by investigators?
Every prisoner in the Davidson County Jail knows that when they use these pay phones, their conversation is recorded and their photograph taken every 15 seconds.
"What happens is when an inmate makes a call on the system, it tells them the call is being recorded, and it's up to the person receiving the call to accept that call so both parties know it's being recorded," said Metro Chief Deputy John Ford.
According to Ford, the digital images of the inmate and their entire conversation is then stored on a computer hard drive, that is frequently listened to by jail personnel and police investigators.
"It's an excellent investigative tool," said Ford. "It gives us info we can share with federal and state law enforcement agencies for their use."
On October 28 2005, Perry and Arthur March were both charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and two counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder. Prosecutors say during the months of September and October of this year, Perry March asked fellow inmate Farris to murder the Levines.
John Herbison is Perry March's attorney. News 2 asked him what evidence the state has on his client. He said that the prosecutors office has audiotapes as evidence in this case. Herbison said he has yet to hear these tapes and won't speculate what's on them. He said he does not know how they were acquired. Herbison told News 2 Perry March is an intelligent person and wouldn't say anything that would be detrimental to his case, certainly not on a jailhouse phone that March knew was being recorded.
News 2 has confirmed that Perry March is currently locked up in a single-man cell in the jail. Russell Farris was also in a single-man cell, directly next to Perry March. News 2 has learned that verbal communication between inmates in these two cells was very possible, and sources said there's a strong possibility that Farris was wearing a concealed recording device while talking to Perry in the next cell. The contents of that recording are unknown.
On Wednesday, Herbison called Farris a "jailhouse snitch". He said it's not unusual to put a wire on an inmate, but it is questionable.
Dan Alexander represents Arthur March. He too has yet to hear the tapes, and won't speculate on what was said or in what context. When News 2 asked about the charges against his client, he said, "any half-decent prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a cucumber."
News 2 checked, and Perry March was booked into the Davidson County Jail on August 12, 2005. He has been in the special management unit the whole time. Russell Farris has been there since April 29th - some 3 1/2 months before Perry March became his jailhouse neighbor.
Jailhouse talk may figure large in Perry March murder-by-hire case
By Andy Cordan
News 2 - November 3, 2005
http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=4071004&nav=1ugO
The Davidson County Grand Jury recently indicted former Nashville attorney Perry March and his father Arthur on allegations they tried to hire a hit man to kill Perry's in-laws, Carolyn and Lawrence Levine. The question is: what evidence do prosecutors have?
According to the indictment, oral, written, and electronic communications were involved when Perry and Arthur March allegedly contracted with inmate Russell Farris to kill the Levines. The question is: what was said, and how was it recorded by investigators?
Every prisoner in the Davidson County Jail knows that when they use these pay phones, their conversation is recorded and their photograph taken every 15 seconds.
"What happens is when an inmate makes a call on the system, it tells them the call is being recorded, and it's up to the person receiving the call to accept that call so both parties know it's being recorded," said Metro Chief Deputy John Ford.
According to Ford, the digital images of the inmate and their entire conversation is then stored on a computer hard drive, that is frequently listened to by jail personnel and police investigators.
"It's an excellent investigative tool," said Ford. "It gives us info we can share with federal and state law enforcement agencies for their use."
On October 28 2005, Perry and Arthur March were both charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and two counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder. Prosecutors say during the months of September and October of this year, Perry March asked fellow inmate Farris to murder the Levines.
John Herbison is Perry March's attorney. News 2 asked him what evidence the state has on his client. He said that the prosecutors office has audiotapes as evidence in this case. Herbison said he has yet to hear these tapes and won't speculate what's on them. He said he does not know how they were acquired. Herbison told News 2 Perry March is an intelligent person and wouldn't say anything that would be detrimental to his case, certainly not on a jailhouse phone that March knew was being recorded.
News 2 has confirmed that Perry March is currently locked up in a single-man cell in the jail. Russell Farris was also in a single-man cell, directly next to Perry March. News 2 has learned that verbal communication between inmates in these two cells was very possible, and sources said there's a strong possibility that Farris was wearing a concealed recording device while talking to Perry in the next cell. The contents of that recording are unknown.
On Wednesday, Herbison called Farris a "jailhouse snitch". He said it's not unusual to put a wire on an inmate, but it is questionable.
Dan Alexander represents Arthur March. He too has yet to hear the tapes, and won't speculate on what was said or in what context. When News 2 asked about the charges against his client, he said, "any half-decent prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a cucumber."
News 2 checked, and Perry March was booked into the Davidson County Jail on August 12, 2005. He has been in the special management unit the whole time. Russell Farris has been there since April 29th - some 3 1/2 months before Perry March became his jailhouse neighbor.
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Questions could hinder extradition case against Perry March's dad
By Andy Cordan
News 2 - November 4, 2004
Attorneys for Arthur March are examining the legality of taping a phone conversation with someone in Mexico. They also are examining his health as part of a Mexican extradition hearing.
Attorneys for Arthur March are examining the legality of taping a phone conversation with someone in Mexico. They also are examining his health as part of a Mexican extradition hearing.
Questions have also been raised about the credibility of Russell Farris - the inmate named in the indictment as being crucial to putting the murder-for-hire case together against the Marches.
Questions have also been raised about the credibility of Russell Farris - the inmate named in the indictment as being crucial to putting the murder-for-hire case together against the Marches.
There's new information in the alleged murder-for-hire plot involving Perry and Arthur March. News 2 has learned that Mexican lawyers for Arthur March filed an injunction that could dramatically bog down the prosecution's efforts to bring him back to Nashville.
Arthur March's Nashville lawyer Dan Alexander told News 2 that they filed this injunction Friday morning. In a nutshell, it prohibits Arthur from being extradited to the U.S. without first having a hearing in Mexico; essentially so the Mexican court can determine if Nashville prosecutors have enough evidence to warrant it.
Arthur March and his son Perry are both accused of hiring a hit man to kill Perry's former in-laws, Carolyn and Lawrence Levine. Perry March has been held in the Metro Jail since August on second-degree murder charges in the disappearance of his wife, Janet Levine March. 77-year-old Arthur March is currently in Mexico.
Nashville prosecutors were hoping he'd turn himself in to avoid a lengthy extradition process. With the filing of Friday injunction in Guadalajara, it could be a long time before Arthur March sets foot back on American soil.
"I think Mr. March is entitled to hear the details of these charges against him, and I think he's entitled to an impartial hearing," said Alexander.
Also clouding the extradition proceedings against Arthur March is his health.
"First thing we're trying to get are the reports from Mexico, is to get reports from Mr. March's doctors, his cardiologist team, to determine if he could travel," said Alexander.
Alexander said he's also exploring the possibility of whether Nashville investigators broke Mexican law while building their case against Arthur March. He specifically questioned whether it's legal to record a phone conversation with someone in Mexico without their knowledge. The District Attorney's office would not comment on matters of Mexican law, but Dan Alexander did.
"We're looking into what laws might have been violated in Mexico by anyone attempting to entice someone there or to entrap someone there," he said.
And then there's what Alexander calls the credibility issue of Russell Farris - the inmate named in the indictment as being crucial to putting the murder-for-hire case together against the Marches.
"One thing I can tell you about Arthur March - he is innocent," said Alexander. "He is by law presumed to be innocent. They can't say that about their star witness, from what I hear in the indictment."
News 2 checked with an expert on one-party consent laws - essentially taping a person without them knowing. Our expert said that as long as one party knows a conversation is being recorded, it is legal in Tennessee. The expert had no idea if that was the case in Mexico. In the meantime, the Metro prosecutors office has begun extradition paperwork in the Arthur March case.
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March pleads not guilty in murder-by-hire conspiracy
Associated Press - November 9, 2005
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A former Nashville attorney charged with murder in the 1996 disappearance of his wife has pleaded not guilty to separate charges of trying arrange to have his wife's parents murdered.
Perry March was arraigned Wednesday in Davidson County Criminal Court as he appeared by videoconference from the Nashville jail.
March and his father, Arthur March, each face one charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and two counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder in a plot that prosecutors allege occurred while March was in jail on his second-degree murder charges.
March was arrested in August almost exactly nine years after his wife, Janet Levine March, disappeared from their Nashville home. Her body has never been found but a court has ruled that she is dead.
Her parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, fought March in civil court over custody of the couple's two children and have said that they believe March killed her. The Levines won custody of the children after March was extradited from Mexico.
Arthur March is currently living in Ajijic, Mexico, where March and the couple's children lived until recently. Arthur March is fighting extradition from Mexico, and has won the right to a hearing.
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Trial Dates Set For Perry March
News Channel 5 - November 17, 2005
Perry March's trial on second-degree murder charges in the disappearance of his wife Janet will begin on August 7th, 2006. But before that proceeding begins, March will go to trial on conspiracy and theft charges.
Perry March was indicted last December on second-degree murder charges and brought back to the United States from Mexico in August. His wife Janet disappeared from the couple's Davidson County home in August of 1996, and she has not been seen or heard from since.
March has also been indicted, along with his father Arthur, on charges that they conspired to have Janet's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, killed. Perry March will go to trial on that conspiracy charge on June 5th, 2006.
Perry March faces a third trial on theft charges. In that case, March is accused of stealing about $10,000 from the law firm owned by Lawrence Levine. The trial date on that charge was set for April 17th, 2006.
Perry March remains in jail in Nashville on $3 million bond.
Perry's father, Arthur, is also charged in the conspiracy to commit murder case. He remains in Mexico where he lives.
Mexican immigration renewed his visa to stay in the country, so he won't be deported, at least not for now.
If he returned to the U.S., the plan is that he would be tried with his son.
Deputy District Attorney Tom Thurman said he would try them together.
He also plans to use the conspiracy case as evidence in the murder case that follows.
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New developments in Perry March theft charges
News 2 - November 17, 2005
The ongoing legal saga of Perry March was in court again on Friday. The former Nashville attorney is charged with killing his wife, Janet. Perry and his father Arthur have also been accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill Janet's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine. But that was not the heart of the matter before the court on Friday.
Perry March was in court as lawyers made motions regarding the pending theft case against him. March is charged with taking at least $10,000 from his father-in-law's law firm back in 1999. On Thursday in court, defense attorneys learned that apparently for the first time that perhaps as much as half the money thought to be stolen in this case may actually belong to Perry March. It's money that his attorney says was apparently being held in an escrow account.
"You're holding money in escrow for somebody whose accused of taking money from you," said March's lawyer Ed Fowlkes. "Don't smell right. Not right."
Perry March is being held on a $250,000 bond on the theft - a bond amount his lawyers have argued is much higher than normal. The trial has been scheduled tentatively for April.
Dates for the other cases have also been set. The murder-for-hire charges are set to go to trial in June, and the second-degree murder case is set for August. Another issue that could possibly complicate matters: Arthur March - Perry's father and co-defendant in the murder-for-hire case - is still in Mexico.
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Perry March trials set for next summer
By SHEILA BURKE, Staff writer
Tennessean - November 17, 2005
Former Nashville lawyer Perry March will go on trial June 5, on charges he plotted to kill his in-laws. He will then face trial in August on charges he killed his wife and disposed of her body, a judge decided today.
March has been jailed since August in connection with the 1996 disappearance of his wife, Janet Levine March. Her body has not been found.
Last month, Perry March and his father, Arthur, were indicted on charges they tried to hire a hit man to kill her parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine.
That plot was uncovered before the killings could occur, authorities have said.
Perry March remains jailed in lieu of $3 million bond.
His father, Arthur March, lives in Ajijic, Mexico, and prosecutors have said they are working to have him extradited to the U.S.
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Perry March back in court
News 2 This Morning - November 18, 2005
Accused killer Perry March will be back in Metro Court on Friday morning for a motions hearing.
March is charged with murder in connection with his wife's 1996 disappearance. Just last week, the former attorney pleaded not-guilty to murder-for-hire charges. He and his father are accused of hiring a hitman to kill his former in-laws, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine.
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March's dad nabbed in Mexico
Jailed in Texas, he faces conspiracy charges in failed plot to kill son Perry's in-laws
By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF and AILENE TORRES
Tennessean - January 6, 2006
Mexican immigration officials yesterday deported Arthur March, who is accused by Davidson County prosecutors of thrusting himself into his son's criminal problems by plotting to kill his former daughter-in-law's parents, authorities said.
Arthur March, 77, the father of former Nashville lawyer Perry March, proved true to his promise that he would not go peacefully if authorities tried to take him from his adopted hometown of Ajijic, Mexico, to face conspiracy charges in the U.S.
"It was not without incident. There was a struggle," said Tom Thurman, the Davidson County deputy district attorney general who is prosecuting the case. He refused to elaborate.
By late afternoon, Arthur March had been placed on an airplane in Guadalajara, about an hour from Ajijic, in the custody of FBI agents, local authorities said.
He was flown to Houston, where he appeared before a judge. He could be brought to Nashville in as few as 10 days if he agrees to waive extradition. But that is unlikely to happen, according to his Nashville lawyer, Fletcher Long, who said his client plans to fight extradition.
Perry March has been jailed in Nashville since his own deportation in August. He is accused of killing his first wife, Janet, who disappeared without a trace in 1996.
Perry March, who has maintained his innocence, moved to Ajijic in 1999 and had lived there until being deported.
It was while Perry March was in jail, authorities said, that he and Arthur March plotted to hire an assassin to kill Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, Janet's parents.
According to an October indictment, Perry March tried to hire fellow Metro Jail inmate Russell Nathaniel Farris. Later, prosecutors have said, Farris placed a call to Arthur March claiming that the killings had been completed and asking to be picked up from the Guadalajara airport as agreed.
Arthur March agreed to pick up Farris, authorities said.
Arthur March has said he is innocent of the charges and denied any knowledge of the murder-for-hire plot.
After the indictment, Arthur March scoffed at requests from local prosecutors that he surrender and return to Nashville. As a result, local authorities had begun the long process of trying to extradite him from Mexico, but the process had not been completed by the time of his arrest yesterday.
Long, Arthur March's lawyer, called the deportation and arrest yesterday unexpected.
"Of course, we haven't heard from our client. We didn't see this coming."
The reason for his deportation by Mexican authorities yesterday was not immediately clear. Thurman would not say whether the deportation was prompted by efforts of authorities in the U.S.
Arthur March's arrest is the latest development in a saga that has included numerous court battles between the families of Perry and Janet March.
If Arthur March fights extradition, it could be months, at the earliest, before he is returned to Nashville to face the conspiracy case, experts said.
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March's father set to plead guilty
For first time, details of Janet March's fate - and husband's possible role - could emerge
By SHEILA BURKE and KATE HOWARD
Tennessean - Feb. 4, 2006.
Arthur March, accused of aiding his son in a murder-for-hire plot, could plead guilty in federal court as early as Monday, sources close to the investigation said.
Sources would not disclose details of the plea.
Details that emerged yesterday suggest the elder March could hold the key to the mystery of what happened to the wife of his son, Perry, who is accused of murder in her 1996 disappearance.
Arthur March was checked out of Metro Jail about 9 a.m. yesterday by two Metro police detectives, jail officials confirmed. He was returned about 4 p.m.
Police would not say where March went, but WSMV-Channel 4 aired video last night of officers with March in the Bowling Green, Ky., area.
Metro police would not discuss the day's events but suggested the probe was gaining steam.
"The March murder investigation is at a very critical stage, and I'm not at liberty at this point to say any more," Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said last night.
It wasn't known last night to what charges March, 78, might plead guilty.
Also not clear was whether the proposed plea deal would require him to testify against his son, who has been jailed since August on charges that he killed his wife and disposed of her body. Janet Levine March disappeared in August 1996. No trace of her has ever been found.
Together, Arthur March and his son stand accused of plotting to kill Janet March's parents.
Since Janet March's disappearance, police have never before described the investigation as being at a "critical stage."
One of Arthur March's lawyers declined to comment on the latest developments or to discuss a potential plea deal.
"At this juncture, I'm afraid any comment from me might jeopardize the work that I've done toward resolving the case on behalf of Arthur March," Nashville lawyer Fletcher Long said.
Perry March's lawyer, John Herbison, had no comment beyond saying, "Whatever Arthur does, we'll just respond to at an appropriate time."
Perry March had lived since 1999 with his two children and new wife in Ajijic, Mexico, until he was deported in August. He was arrested upon his arrival in the U.S. on charges related to his wife's death.
It was while Perry March was in the Metro jail awaiting trial, authorities say, that he and his father hatched a plot to kill Perry March's in-laws, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine.
The Levines and the March family have a bitter history of legal battles and child-custody fights dating from shortly after Janet March's disappearance. The Levines have custody of Perry and Janet March's two children, Samson, 15, and Tzipora, 11.
Perry March is accused of soliciting fellow prisoner Russell Nathaniel Farris to act as a hit man.
Authorities said Arthur March agreed to pick up Farris at the Guadalajara, Mexico, airport and give him housing and money after the killings were committed.
A Davidson County grand jury charged father and son with one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and two counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
Arthur March was deported from Mexico Jan. 5 on the charges and flown to Houston, where he waived extradition. He has been jailed in Nashville since his arrival on Jan. 13.
Perry and Arthur March have maintained their innocence on all charges. They are housed in separate areas of the jail's specialized unit.
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600 Potential Jurors Notified for Perry March Trial
WTVF News Channel 5 - June 1, 2006
Jury selection began Thursday in the Perry March murder-for-hire conspiracy trial. There was quite a pool to choose from. More than 600 potential jurors were notified in light of all the pretrial publicity.
Perry March, dressed in a freshly-pressed suit and tie, joined his attorneys and prosecutors in criminal court.
They spent more than seven hours grilling dozens of jurors, one at a time. More than 100 jurors were present Thursday.
Those chosen for the trial will decide whether March is guilty or innocent of trying to arrange the murders of his former in-laws, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine.
Under questioning, most of the prospective jurors admitted knowing something about the March case.
A handful, like John Murrow, was excused after telling the judge impartiality would be difficult.
"I think he's a slimy guy, and I couldn't do a good job. I couldn't be a good juror," Murrow said.
Judge Steve Dozier planned to have a pool of at least 60 people in place by Thursday evening. Attorneys will then begin actually seating the 12 jurors and two alternates Friday morning.
The evidence phase of the trial was expected to begin next Monday.
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Janet March's father says Perry and his dad tried to kill before
By Sheila Burke
Tennessean.com - June 6, 2006
Lawrence Levine told a Nashville courtroom this morning that Perry March, his former son-in-law, and March's father had tried to kill him and his wife before.
The revelation prompted a swift objection from March's defense team and a sidebar meeting among attorneys for both sides and the judge at the judge's bench.
Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier then told the jury assembled for Perry March's murder-for-hire trial to disregard the testimony.
But under further questioning, Lawrence Levine repeated the accusation. He testified that when he found out about the jailhouse plot, he was worried because March and his father had tried to kill him and his wife Carolyn before.
The judge again stopped the trial, issued Levine a stern admonishment and said the prosecutors didn't want to have to try the case again.
"Why are you doing this?" Dozier asked.
Levine and wife both testified along with the mother of the alleged would-be hit man.
Vickie Farris told the jury she called Lawrence Levine at home because after visiting her son in jail she became very concerned as a mother. Prosecutors say Perry March tapped Russell Nathaniel Farris, who was in jail on three charges of attempted murder, for the hit.
Earlier today, during opening statements, prosecutors said it was Farris who first revealed the plot to his mother.
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Inmate: March had kidnap plan
Informant's checkered past acknowledged
By SHEILA BURKE
Tennessean.com - June 6, 2006
Perry March and an inmate he met in the Metro Jail planned to live the good life in Mexico by kidnapping the children of wealthy parents once March's former in-laws were dead and he'd beaten the charge of killing their daughter, a jailhouse informant testified Monday.
That was among the most sensational allegations leveled at the former Nashville lawyer by one of the prosecution's key witnesses, Russell Nathaniel Farris, on the opening day of March's murder-for-hire trial.
It was Farris, 29, whom prosecutors have said March tried to enlist to carry out the slayings of his former in-laws, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, of Nashville. Once the killings were completed and March won his acquittal on murder charges, the two were to become business partners in Mexico carrying out "express kidnappings," Farris told the court.
"He told me that he'd done several," Farris testified outside the presence of the jury. "He said it's a fast, easy way to make easy money in Mexico."
Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier decided Farris would not be allowed to tell jurors that March had claimed to have conducted kidnappings in the past. However, the judge ruled the would-be hit man could testify about the alleged plan to conduct a kidnapping spree, against the objections of March's defense team.
During more than two hours of questioning, March's defense lawyer hammered at Farris' credibility, suggesting that his extensive criminal past and pending charges offered an obvious motive for him to lie and curry favor with authorities.
Farris, of east Nashville, admitted to five felony charges, even before his current troubles, which include three counts of attempted murder.
Hours earlier, during opening statements, Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman, the lead prosecutor on the case, made it clear to the jury that Farris had a bad history.
"He's had a life of crime," the prosecutor told jurors.
But Thurman laid the blame for the murder-for-hire conspiracy on March, and told the courtroom that what began on Aug. 15, 1996, led to a chain of events that culminated in the plot to kill his missing wife's parents.
That was the day that Perry March's wife, Janet Levine March, disappeared. Her body has never been found. March, 45, will be tried for her murder in August.
"If you were looking at Janet March's life on that day, you would have thought it was perfect," Thurman said.
He told jurors that Perry March was a successful lawyer in town and noted that the couple had two children and a very close relationship with Janet March's parents. The couple had just built a dream house in Forest Hills. And the Levines, who were supportive both financially and emotionally, treated March like their own son, he said.
After she vanished, the Levines and March became adversaries. March left Nashville about a month after his wife disappeared and moved to Chicago, taking his two children with him, the prosecutor said. There were lawsuits filed between the Levines and March, including a move by the grandparents to force visitation with the children.
March took up residence in 1999 in Mexico, where his father, Arthur March, had been living.
The prosecutor told the jury how March had been arrested and charged with his wife's murder nine years after his wife's disappearance. It was while he was in jail, awaiting trial on the second-degree murder charge, that March met Farris.
The prosecutor said the two talked for months about killing the Levines but Farris got cold feet and told his mother and his lawyer before eventually turning to authorities. Thurman told jurors that they would hear testimony from a third inmate who had discovered the plot and recorded conversations detailing the plot in March's own words.
"And you'll be shocked when you hear how cold and calculated he is when this man talks about killing the grandparents of his children," Thurman said.
In their opening statements, defense attorneys took aim at Farris and told jurors about his extensive background in the criminal justice system.
"That's the government's chief witness," Massey told the jury.
The defense offered its own version of Janet March's disappearance: "She was pulling out of the driveway and waved and no one's seen her since," Massey said.
He told of the bitterness between the Levines and Perry March and the numerous custody battles over the two children.
"They came after (the children), not once but twice," Massey said, referring to two attempts by the Levines to wrest custody from Perry March.
A Nashville judge has since given the Levines temporary custody of the two children, now 15 and 12, after March's arrested in August.
Massey told the jury that Farris knew March was angry about the kids and about being arrested and that Farris goaded him day after day about the Levines.
"Nathaniel Farris is creating crime," Massey told the jury. "He's setting people up so that he doesn't have to sit in jail anymore."
The defense lawyer described the plot as an imaginary plan that could never be carried out because Farris was in jail the entire time.
After authorities got wind of the alleged plan, they arranged for it to appear as if Farris had gotten out of jail on bond. In reality, he had been moved to the Williamson County Jail.
Massey also revealed why the defense was interested in the jailhouse movements of March, Farris and child-rape defendant Jeremy Duffer, who is now a fugitive from the law.
Duffer shared a cell with Farris that was next to March's in a special housing unit in the jail. Jail officials moved Duffer — who eventually got out on bond but never showed up for trial — to facilitate communication between March and Farris, Massey told the jury.
After opening statements, prosecutors called Carolyn Levine, then Vickie Farris, the inmate's mother, and then Lawrence Levine.
Vickie Farris testified that she visited her son in the jail and — without telling the jury what she was told — said she was sufficiently concerned that she called Lawrence Levine.
During his testimony, Lawrence Levine testified that he received the call and then learned
several weeks later about the murder-for-hire plot against him and his wife.
"This was not the first time that Perry and Arthur March attempted to kill us, so we were scared," Lawrence Levine told the jury.
That statement prompted a private meeting at the bench among the lawyers and the judge. Judge Dozier told jurors that they were to disregard Levine's statements. Minutes later, Levine, who is also a lawyer, repeated the statement, prompting a rebuke from the judge.
"What are you doing?" Dozier asked Levine. "I've tried to tell you. The state's tried to tell you."
The judge told Levine that the state didn't want to have to try the case again.
The trial is scheduled to resume at 8:45 a.m. today.
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Jurors hear audio of Perry March planning attack on in-laws
By SHEILA BURKE
Gallatinne News Examiner - June 7, 2006
Jurors in the trial of Perry March heard digital recordings today of the former Nashville lawyer plotting from jail to kill his missing wife's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine.
On the recordings, March, 45, can be heard imploring fellow inmate and would-be hit man Russell Nathaniel Farris to commit the killings when March's two children were not around. The Levines have temporary custody of March's children.
March also stated that he wanted the attack to occur when Lawrence and Carolyn Levine were together.
"Do it, you have to do it when they're both together to help me," March can be heard saying.
March then provides Farris with directions to Lawrence Levine's downtown law office and to the couple's West Meade home.
Farris, who was working with authorities at the time, can be heard acknowledging the instructions.
"That, look here, Perry, if they answer that door, it's over," Farris said.
Later, prosecutors played five different recordings of telephone conversations between Farris and Perry March's father, Arthur. The men can be heard making plans to provide Farris safe haven in Mexico following the murders.
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March: Kill both my in-laws
Taped talks with informant reveal hope of sabotaging murder case against him
By SHEILA BURKE
Tennessean.com - June 7, 2006
Perry March told an inmate in the Metro Jail that the murder case against him would fall apart after his missing wife's parents were dead.
But the former Nashville lawyer made it clear that the inmate couldn't kill just one of his former in-laws.
"Do it," March said. "You have to do it when they're both together to help me."
The exchange between March and the inmate-turned-informant was part of hours of taped jailhouse conversations played before a jury in the second day of March's murder-for-hire trial.
March, 45, is being tried on charges that he conspired to have his former wife's parents killed and solicited inmate Russell Nathaniel Farris to do it.
The plan, according to the recordings, was for Farris, a 29-year-old east Nashville man with an extensive criminal history, to bond out of jail and kill Carolyn and Lawrence Levine.
The conversations took place while March was jailed waiting to be tried in the death of the Levines' daughter, Janet Levine March. She disappeared almost 10 years ago and her body has never been found.
But the defense on Tuesday pointed out that March may have been talking about it, but never once gave Farris the OK to go ahead and kill the Levines. Throughout the transcripts, March told Farris to wait and to give the plan a cooling-off period.
"Have you got a transcript of a phone conversation where Perry March says go kill them?" William Massey, one of March's defense attorneys, asked Metro Police Sgt. Pat Postiglione.
The sergeant testified that he did not, but noted that March got a message that the job would be completed in two weeks and never tried to stop it.
The defense has pointed out that there were never any killings to stop because Farris was in jail the entire time.
What jurors did hear was March giving Farris information about how to get to the Levines. He gave the inmate directions to the Levines' West Meade home and told him how to get to Lawrence Levine's downtown law office.
March told Farris, who was secretly recording the conversations, that he didn't want his children around when the killings happened. The Levines have temporary custody of March's son and daughter.
He also told Farris that he thought Lawrence Levine stayed home with his wife a lot during the day.
"Look here, Perry," Farris told him. "If they're both in that house, if they answer that door, it's over."
The transcripts also revealed plans about other crimes. At one point, jurors heard March discussing what appeared to be plans to kidnap the granddaughter of a British billionaire in Mexico.
"Three hundred thousand dollars without the blink of an eye," March told Farris, apparently referring to a ransom.
On Monday, Farris testified that he and March had planned to live in Mexico after the Levines were dead and the former lawyer had beaten the murder charge, living the high life by kidnapping the children of wealthy parents.
March called them "express kidnappings" and told him that he'd done it before while living in Mexico, Farris testified outside the presence of the jury.
Jurors did get to hear Farris' conversations with Perry March's father, Arthur March.
"When this operation is finished ... remember, you've got a home," Arthur March could be heard telling Farris.
Arthur March, 78, was charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and two counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder. He has pleaded guilty in federal court.
During the conversations with the elder March, police made it appear that Farris bonded out of the jail, while secretly moving him to the Williamson County Jail.
Farris used code words and phrases in those conversations. For instance, the phrase "buying a BMW" meant killing the Levines, Postiglione testified
Farris told the elder March that he'd been doing surveillance on the Levines but he needed an "instrument," and a silencer.
"Because the way I'm going to do this, you know, it's gonna have to be quick and quiet."
Arthur March later agreed to pick Farris up from the Guadalajara airport. Instead of meeting Farris, who was still in the Williamson County Jail, the father was greeted by the FBI.
The defense has repeatedly asked witnesses to keep Perry March and his father separate.
During cross-examination, Massey repeatedly raised the possibility that Perry March — who was sitting in the jail while Farris was making plans with his father — was not fully aware of what was happening and never gave the go-ahead for the inmate to kill the Levines.
Postiglione, however, took issue with that assertion, saying there were references in the transcripts that the father and son had been talking with each other.
The state plans to rest its case today. Defense attorneys were still deciding whether to put Perry March on the stand. ·
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Perry March guilty of trying to kill his in-laws
By SHEILA BURKE and HERSCHEL POLLARD
Tennessean News - June 8, 2006
The jury in the Perry March murder-for-hire trial reached guilty verdicts on all counts this afternoon.
The jury returned guilty verdicts on one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and two counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
March showed no emotion as the verdict was read.
March, 45, a former Nashville lawyer, was accused of masterminding a failed jailhouse plot to kill his former wife's parents.
Jurors received the case last night and resumed deliberations this morning. They took more than five hours to reach a verdict.
Tennessean.com will have more on this developing story as it becomes available.
March did not take the stand. With the jury not present, he told the judge that he had chosen not to testify.
March's wife, Janet Levine March, disappeared almost 10 years ago and no trace of her has ever been found. March was charged in August with killing his wife.
While jailed awaiting trial, prosecutors said, March conspired with his father and an inmate with a long criminal record to kill Nashville couple Carolyn and Lawrence Levine.
During closing arguments, one of March's defense attorneys ripped into the state's star witness, Russell Nathaniel Farris. Farris, of east Nashville, turned informant against March.
William Massey told jurors that Farris — who was looking at stiff prison time for three attempted-murder charges and two aggravated-robbery charges — created an imaginary plan to help himself cut a deal with prosecutors.
Massey also said that the plan could never have been carried out because Farris was always in jail.
"These people were in jail," Massey said. "This was a made-up story."
On Tuesday, jurors heard hours of recorded jailhouse conversations that Farris secretly taped while working with police.
March gave Farris directions to the Levines' West Meade home and to Lawrence Levine's office. On the tapes, he told Farris that he needed both of them dead to help him.
Massey told jurors about the long, bitter history between the Levines and Perry March and the fights over Perry and Janet March's two children. The Levines got temporary custody of (Name Removed) and (Name Removed)March, ages 15 and 12, after Perry March was jailed and he was angry.
"There was a deep anger here," Massey said in closing about the conversations in the tapes. "Don't think I'm minimizing it."
But the defense attorney argued that the conversations also repeatedly show Perry March trying to get Farris to delay and stall and that the former lawyer never gave the green light to Farris to kill the Levines.
Police made it look as if Farris got out of the Metro Jail on bond by moving him to the Williamson County Jail. The plan was for Farris to get out and contact Arthur March in Mexico.
But the lead prosecutor told jurors that the Levines were still alive because Perry March was unable to get Farris bonded out of jail and because Farris went to his mother and his lawyer before the plan got too far.
"It could happen if that bond money had come through and Mr. Farris had been the person (Perry March) thought he was — the murderer he thought he was — who would kill in cold blood."
Attorneys also argued over whether Perry March had given Farris the go-ahead to kill the Levines.
Farris made the tapes with Perry March before pretending to get out of jail on bond. After he was moved to the Williamson County Jail, the inmate began calling Arthur March, pretending to be out on bond and ready to kill the Levines.
Massey had argued that Perry March never told Farris to carry out the killings and that any conversations the inmate had with the father were a different story.
"Remember, there's no communication between Perry March and Nathaniel Farris," Massey told the jurors.
After Long, the elder March's lawyer, testified, an FBI agent took the stand and said that Arthur March went to the Guadalajara, Mexico, airport to pick up Farris, supposedly after he had killed the Levines.
And while Massey made it appear that Perry March had no idea the plan went so far, Thurman told jurors that there had been ample communication between the father and son to know what was going on.
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Lawyer: March tried to keep father quiet
Jury gets murder-for-hire case; defendant opts not to testify
By SHEILA BURKE
Tennessean.com - June 8, 2006
Jurors began deliberating in the Perry March murder-for-hire case Wednesday after a third day of trial that began with the attorney for March's father testifying that March tried to keep his dad from cooperating with the government.
Springfield attorney Fletcher Long was visiting Arthur March — who has since pleaded guilty — in the Metro Jail when Perry March talked to his father.
"He walked into the room and he said, 'Dad, I'm not going to roll on you. You're not going to roll on me. We will wear these jumpsuits with a badge of honor, a badge of honor,' " Long told the court.
Long was one of the last witnesses to testify against March, a former Nashville lawyer accused of conspiring to have his missing wife's parents killed.
March did not take the stand. With the jury not present, he told the judge that he had chosen not to testify.
March's wife, Janet Levine March, disappeared almost 10 years ago and no trace of her has ever been found. March was charged in August with killing his wife.
While jailed awaiting trial, prosecutors allege, March conspired with his father and an inmate with a long criminal record to kill Nashville couple Carolyn and Lawrence Levine.
Jurors, who have been sequestered for the high-profile case, deliberated for about two hours before going back to a hotel Wednesday evening. They are to resume deliberations this morning.
During closing arguments, one of March's defense attorneys ripped into the state's star witness, Russell Nathaniel Farris. Farris, of east Nashville, turned informant against March.
William Massey told jurors that Farris — who was looking at stiff prison time for three attempted-murder charges and two aggravated-robbery charges — created an imaginary plan to help himself cut a deal with prosecutors.
Massey also said that the plan could never have been carried out because Farris was always in jail.
"These people were in jail," Massey said. "This was a made-up story."
On Tuesday, jurors heard hours of recorded jailhouse conversations that Farris secretly taped while working with police.
March gave Farris directions to the Levines' West Meade home and to Lawrence Levine's office. On the tapes, he told Farris that he needed both of them dead to help him.
Massey told jurors about the long, bitter history between the Levines and Perry March and the fights over Perry and Janet March's two children. The Levines got temporary custody of (Name Removed) and (Name Removed)March, ages 15 and 12, after Perry March was jailed and he was angry.
"There was a deep anger here," Massey said in closing about the conversations in the tapes. "Don't think I'm minimizing it."
But the defense attorney argued that the conversations also repeatedly show Perry March trying to get Farris to delay and stall and that the former lawyer never gave the green light to Farris to kill the Levines.
Police made it look as if Farris got out of the Metro Jail on bond by moving him to the Williamson County Jail. The plan was for Farris to get out and contact Arthur March in Mexico.
But the lead prosecutor told jurors that the Levines were still alive because Perry March was unable to get Farris bonded out of jail and because Farris went to his mother and his lawyer before the plan got too far.
"It could happen if that bond money had come through and Mr. Farris had been the person (Perry March) thought he was — the murderer he thought he was — who would kill in cold blood."
Attorneys also argued over whether Perry March had given Farris the go-ahead to kill the Levines.
Farris made the tapes with Perry March before pretending to get out of jail on bond. After he was moved to the Williamson County Jail, the inmate began calling Arthur March, pretending to be out on bond and ready to kill the Levines.
Massey had argued that Perry March never told Farris to carry out the killings and that any conversations the inmate had with the father were a different story.
"Remember, there's no communication between Perry March and Nathaniel Farris," Massey told the jurors.
After Long, the elder March's lawyer, testified, an FBI agent took the stand and said that Arthur March went to the Guadalajara, Mexico, airport to pick up Farris, supposedly after he had killed the Levines.
And while Massey made it appear that Perry March had no idea the plan went so far, Thurman told jurors that there had been ample communication between the father and son to know what was going on.
He also said that there didn't have to be any sort of a green light or a written contract to make it a conspiracy.
Perry March is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and two counts of solicitation to commit murder.
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Perry March convicted of soliciting in-laws' murders
Associated Press - June 9, 2006
A man charged in the 1996 disappearance and killing of his wife was convicted Thursday of trying to hire another inmate to murder his in-laws.
Perry March, a Nashville attorney before he became a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
March is scheduled for sentencing July 20 and could face 15 to 25 years. He is scheduled to be tried later this year on second-degree murder charges in the death of his wife.
March has been jailed in Nashville since he was arrested last August on charges of second-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in the disappearance of his wife, artist and socialite Janet Levine March. Her body has never been found.
Her parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, and March fought in court over the custody of the couple's two children. March eventually moved his family to Mexico, but the Levines got custody of the children after his arrest.
Prosecutors used seven hours of taped conversations between March and inmate Russell Nathaniel Farris, who also testified, to lay out a case that March wanted the Levines killed to derail the murder case against him.
In a conversation recorded after Farris turned police informant, March says, "Do it. You have to do it when they're both together to help me."
The defense claimed that Farris made up the story of a jailhouse hit to get lenient treatment on charges of attempted murder and aggravated robbery. March didn't testify in the case.
March's father, Arthur March, also was charged in the murder plot against the Levines and has pleaded guilty. He gave a deposition against his son that was read into court.
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Perry March convicted of soliciting in-laws' murders
Associated Press - June 9, 2006
A man charged in the 1996 disappearance and killing of his wife was convicted Thursday of trying to hire another inmate to murder his in-laws.
Perry March, a Nashville attorney before he became a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
March is scheduled for sentencing July 20 and could face 15 to 25 years. He is scheduled to be tried later this year on second-degree murder charges in the death of his wife.
March has been jailed in Nashville since he was arrested last August on charges of second-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in the disappearance of his wife, artist and socialite Janet Levine March. Her body has never been found.
Her parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, and March fought in court over the custody of the couple's two children. March eventually moved his family to Mexico, but the Levines got custody of the children after his arrest.
Prosecutors used seven hours of taped conversations between March and inmate Russell Nathaniel Farris, who also testified, to lay out a case that March wanted the Levines killed to derail the murder case against him.
In a conversation recorded after Farris turned police informant, March says, "Do it. You have to do it when they're both together to help me."
The defense claimed that Farris made up the story of a jailhouse hit to get lenient treatment on charges of attempted murder and aggravated robbery. March didn't testify in the case.
March's father, Arthur March, also was charged in the murder plot against the Levines and has pleaded guilty. He gave a deposition against his son that was read into court.
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Man gets 35 years for conspiring to kill ex-wife, federal prosecutors
By Jared Allen, jallen@nashvillecitypaper.com
Nashville City Paper - June 14, 2006
A Murfreesboro man was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to more than 35 years in prison for conspiring to kill both his ex-wife, as well as the federal prosecutors who originally tried him in that case.
U.S. Attorneys said the sentencing of Parley Drew Hardman, 50, of Murfreesboro, closed a significant chapter in a four-year-old case they compared to "a soap opera."
In 2003, a year after his initial arrest, Hardman was convicted by a federal jury of soliciting the interstate stalking with intent to cause death, solicitation of murder for hire, and conspiracy to commit interstate stalking of his ex-wife, Cherilynn Collins.
Last September, Hardman was convicted in a second federal case of plotting to kill Assistant U.S. Attorney Sunny A.M. Koshy – the lead prosecutor in the first case – two key witnesses and Collins.
"You had the first trial, and while he was awaiting sentencing on the first trial, he committed the second offense," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Daughtrey, who assisted in prosecuting the first case.
In the first trial, the jury found Hardman guilty of soliciting a man to murder his ex-wife, who worked as a dance instructor in Michigan.
The would-be-murderer's fee, though, was too high, so Hardman agreed to have him work with yet another individual to "have Collins' legs broken so that she could never dance again," a U.S. Attorney's Office press release said.
But law enforcement officials were able to prevent the attack from happening by carrying out a "ruse assault."
While Hardman was in Davidson County jail awaiting his sentencing in that case, he approached a fellow inmate "asking for an introduction to the Gambino crime family to help carry out Hardman's plan to murder... Koshy and two witnesses, and to injure Hardman's ex-wife," the release continued.
That inmate contacted his attorney, who then informed the U.S. Attorney's office, and an FBI sting operation began.
"There are shades of Perry March in the sense that the facts are so colorful that you can hardly believe them," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Zach Fardon, referring to the former Nashville Attorney who was just found guilty of conspiring to kill two witnesses in his upcoming murder trial.
"It's also a fairly unusual and effective piece of law enforcement that an undercover FBI agent went in and posed as the mafia hit man," Fardon added.
He described the case as "unusual."
"It's not unprecedented for U.S. attorneys to be subject to threats by criminal defendants, but I do think this case is unusual in a couple of ways," Fardon said. "There's a difference between serious threats and serious threats that are acted upon. And this is clearly the latter."
On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Echols reaffirmed the original 15-year sentence he imposed on Hardman for the first trial.
Echols also sentenced Hardman to approximately 20 years for the second case.
The sentences are scheduled to run consecutively.
"The sentence sends a clear and strong signal that this kind of conduct can't and won't be tolerated. We're going to prosecute people who commit federal crimes, and we're going to do it without fear of counter-attack," Fardon said. "I do think that can and should send a message to people who have similar thoughts."
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March Attorneys Cite NewsChannel 5+ in Change of Venue Request
WTVF Channel 5 News - June 21, 2006
Perry March's attorneys filed a motion Wednesday afternoon in court, asking the judge for a change in venue. They said extensive media coverage of March's first two trials specifically our gavel-to-gavel coverage on NewsChannel 5+ would make it impossible for Perry March to receive a fair trial with a jury from Davidson County.
Two other juries have already convicted Perry March for theft and conspiracy to commit murder. Those trials received extensive media coverage, the most comprehensive on our cable channel, NewsChannel 5+, which broadcasted the trials gavel-to-gavel.
In court Wednesday, Perry March's attorneys filed a change of venue motion stating: "Mr. March can not expect to get a fair trial in Davidson County or any of the counties that are within the NewsChannel 5 Plus broadcast range."
"Our coverage has been unbiased and straightforward and pretty much simply the facts," Mike Cutler, news director of NewsChannel 5, said.
Cutler defended the coverage, as did our legal analyst Nick Bailey.
"I think that's the greatest part of this coverage is that we're able to put it in terms that non-lawyers can understand," Nick Bailey said.
March's attorneys disagree, telling the court: "No person can set aside their own partiality."
"That's what people are called upon to do every single day when they sit as a juror on every single case. They have to set aside those feelings because they can only base their opinion on what they hear during the trial through the evidence in the case. They can't base it on anything else," Bailey said.
Bailey said whatever the decision, it probably won't take long.
"I think there will be a quick resolution so if there is going to be a change of venue, the court has plenty of time to go to another jurisdiction and select a jury," he said.
The change of venue hearing is set for Friday morning at 9 a.m.
If the judge agrees to the change, more than likely, the court would go outside the Nashville viewing area to select a jury and then bring that jury back here to Davidson County for the trial.
The Janet March murder trial is scheduled to begin here in Nashville on August 7.
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Jury from outside Nashville to hear Perry March murder trial
By AILENE TORRES
Tennessean.com - June 22, 2006
A jury from outside of Nashville will be seated to hear the upcoming trial of Perry March on charges he murdered his wife and disposed of her body, a Davidson County Criminal Court judge ruled today.
But Judge Steven Dozier did not immediately decide from which county the jury would come from and even left the door open to the possibility of moving the entire trial to another jurisdiction.
The decision came in response to a motion filed by March's defense team seeking to change the venue for his third and final criminal trial. March, 45, was convicted earlier this year in separate Nashville trials stemming from his theft of money from an employer, and for a failed jailhouse plot to kill his missing wife's parents.
He is scheduled to go to trial in August on the murder case. March's wife, Janet, disappeared without a trace in 1996.
In requesting the change of venue, March's attorney, John Herbison argued that the potential jury pool was poisoned by the pervasive, extensive and inflammatory nature of the media coverage in Nashville. He suggested the case should be moved to Memphis, where two members of March's defense team have offices.
The judge agreed there had been extensive coverage, although he disagreed that it had been inflammatory. He said an impartial jury could be picked in Nashville but said he didn't want the venue issue to become the subject of a future appeal.
"I don't think it's worth being an issue," Dozier said. "Mr. March is entitled to a fair trial. I will grant the motion for change of venue."
Prosecutor Tom Thurman said the state did not have a position about what venue should be selected, but would prefer a more neutral location like Knoxville or Chattanooga.
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Judge Grants Change of Venue in March Case
WTVF Channel 5 News - June 22. 2006
Perry March and his attorney John Herbison are pictured here in court. March's attorneys say their client can't get a fair trial with a Nashville jury. So Thursday morning, they asked a judge to grant a change of venue.
The judge is going to grant the change of venue to find an unbiased jury in this high profile case. The trial will still take place in August.
Judge Dozier heard arguments from both the defense and the prosecution's
"Here we're ten years after the event and the media coverage has been extensive throughout that 10 year period," said Perry March's Attorney John Herbison.
"The state's not really taking a position either way," said Deputy District Attorney, Tom Thurman.
Herbison told the judge intense publicity of the two prior cases has tainted the jury pool.
Criminal Court administrator Larry Stephenson said he needs to start send jury duty notices out very soon.
Barring any unforeseen change, the Janet March murder trial is set to begin here in Nashville on August 7.
The question is where will Stephenson go to get the jury that will decide whether March killed his wife Janet.
He said that will be decided later Thursday, either a county in east or west Tennessee.
The judge said he hopes to keep the location a secret until the actual jury selection process begins in August.
Metro Criminal Court Administrator Larry Stephenson said there have been several change of venue cases in the past, most notably the Paul Reid trials. In those instances, juries were brought to Nashville from Knoxville and Chattanooga.
Paul Reid is set to be executed early next Wednesday morning.
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Perry March change of venue approved
By AILENE TORRES
Tennessean - June 22, 2006
A change of venue motion was approved today for the murder case against Perry A. March.
Judge Steve Dozier this morning granted a change of venue motion. March, a former Nashville attorney, is accused of killing his wife, Janet, who disappeared in 1996.
Perry March's attorney, John Herbison, petitioned the court to move the trial to Memphis. Two other members of March's legal team are based in Memphis. But the court has not yet decided where the trial will be held. Herbison said the potential jury pool was poisoned by the pervasive, extensive and inflammatory nature of the coverage of the case.
The judge agreed there had been extensive coverage, although he disagreed that it had been inflammatory. He said an impartial jury could be picked in Nashville, citing two previous cases against March that have been tried here. But he said he didn't want the venue issue to be the subject of an appeal later.
"I don't think it's worth being an issue," Dozier said. "Mr. March is entitled to a fair trial. I will grant the motion for change of venue."
Prosecutor Tom Thurman said the state did not have a position on moving the trial, but would prefer a more neutral location like Knoxville or Chattanooga if it is to be moved.
For more on this story, check this site later and pick up tomorrow's Tennessean.
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March Attorneys Want Corpse Charges Dropped
WTFV TV- Channel 5 - July 6, 2006
Should Perry March be charged with abusing his wife's corpse or should the charges be dropped?
Judge Steve Dozier will decide at a motions hearing Friday morning if March is still charged with tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
March denies killing his wife Janet in 1996, but he'll stand trial for her murder this August.
March also faces two other counts for allegedly disposing of the body: abuse of corpse and tampering with evidence.
His attorneys want those charges dropped. They filed a motion to dismiss counts No. 2 and 3 of the indictment in this case as being barred by the statute of limitation, meaning too much time has passed to prosecute. The statute of limitations on abuse and tampering is only two to four years. The alleged crime happened a decade ago.
"I think there's virtually no chance the judge will grant that," NewsChannel 5 legal analyst Nick Bailey said.
Bailey said that's because Perry left the state.
Perry moved from Tennessee to Illinois and then to Mexico after Janet disappeared. So, under the rule of law, Bailey said, the statue of limitations never ran out.
March's trial will begin August 7th. At this point, Bailey said a plea deal is unlikely.
"The farther the case moves along, I think the less likely of a plea deal in a murder case," he said.
With murder, there is no statute of limitations.
Because of pre-trial publicity, Dozier said he wants the jury selected from outside our viewing area. He has been notifying jurors in another county, but no one is saying which county, yet.
Jury selection begins August 7. Jurors will be sequestered for the trial.
A gag order remained in effect for all involved in the March murder case.
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Perry March Loses Key Challenge
WTVF Channel 5 News - July 7, 2006
There's some bad news for Perry March. He lost a key challenge in a downtown Nashville courtroom Friday morning.
March is charged with murdering his wife Janet in 1996 and disposing of her body. He and his attorneys asked Judge Steve Dozier to dismiss the abuse of corpse and tampering with evidence charges.
Judge Dozier ruled against them, but he did take two other defense motions under advisement. He'll now consider suppressing the tape recordings of March trying to hire a hit man that were used in his recent conspiracy trial.
The judge will also consider excluding comments March made to detectives on the flight back to Nashville after his arrest last year in Mexico.
NewsChannel 5 Legal Analyst Nick Bailey said of today's events, "At this point, some crucial rulings will still be made. We now just have to wait and see when the judge will issue his orders".
A decision could be made in the next week. The former Nashville attorney goes to trial on the murder charges beginning August 7th.
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Judge refuses to dismiss charges against Perry March
By SHEILA BURKE
Gallatinne Examiner - July 7, 2006
A Davidson County judge on Friday refused to throw out charges of tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse against Perry March, stemming from the disappearance of his wife in 1996.
The former Nashville lawyer is scheduled to go to trial Aug. 7 for killing her and disposing of her body. Janet March disappeared without a trace in 1996.
Perry March, 45, is also scheduled to be sentenced July 20 after being convicted of theft, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder.
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More Charges For Perry March?
WTVF Channel 5 News - July 7, 2006
A judge will decide Friday if Perry March should be charged with disposing of his wife's body. March arrived in court at 10:00 am Friday.
Not only that, but his lawyers will argue for several charges against March to be dropped.
This is one more step before next month's murder trial. March's murder trial is scheduled to begin in one month, August 7th.
The judge has already decided to have both sides find a jury outside of the Nashville area.
The judge has not released where he plans to do that but the jury will be sequestered back here in Nashville.
But his attorneys say two of the charges in that case should be dropped.
The Defense is trying to get the tapes between March and an undercover informant, Nathaniel Russell Farris, thrown out.
Prosecutors used the tapes in a previous trial showing how March tried to hire the Farris to kill his former in-laws. Defense says that tapes are a violation of March's 6th Amendment Rights.
John Herbison, March's attorney, spoke of a separate situation where rights were violated by a law enforcement agent posing as an inmate. He compared Farris to a government agent.
"And we have just as clear a violation here through Mr. Farris's acting as a government agent," Herbison continued.
March is charged with killing his wife Janet back in 1996. He also faces charges he abused the corpse of his former wife and then tampered evidence.
March's attorneys say the statute of limitations for those crimes is two to four years. And because the crime happened 10 years ago, the time has run out.
NewsChannel 5 legal expert Nick Bailey doesn't see a Judge dropping the charges based on that argument. He says the statue of limitations stopped because March left the country.
"He was certainly free to move about. The issue comes if you're going to challenge later that a statue of limitation expired on a particular crime you're charged with," said Bailey.
The judge plans to make a decision on these motions Friday.
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March Defense Wants Conversation With Detective Banned
WVTV- Channel 5 - July 10, 2006
March Defense Wants Conversation With Detective Banned
Could Perry March's own words come back to hurt him during his murder trial? The defense wants a conversation between him and a detective banned.
Perry March was arrested in Ajijic, Mexico last year for the murder of his wife, Janet, 10 years ago.
Metro Detective Pat Postiglione escorted him back to Nashville from Los Angeles.
He said he didn't interrogate March during the flight, but March was eager to talk. Postiglione testified in open court that March willingly talked with him about the case for more than two hours.
The conversation was not recorded, but the detective committed it to memory and immediately wrote it all down after landing including some direct quotes
"This is a supplement report I did upon my return from Los Angeles, pertaining to our conversations," he said.
Judge Steve Dozier will decide if the report can be used in next month's murder trial.
NewsChannel 5 obtained an exclusive copy of the transcript.
Postiglione said March was obsessed with the case against him.
"He was persistent in asking if we could establish whether or not Janet was deceased and asked if we had located her," Postiglione said
March said: "Speaking in hypothetical terms, what if it was an accident? If I were to admit culpability to something along those lines, would it still be second-degree murder?"
In the report, March said prior to the "Janet incident" he was not involved in any other criminal-type activities. He said the he "intensely" loved Janet, but did not argue when I said that sometimes people hurt people they love in a moment of anger.
He then said: "You don't have a witness saying they saw me killing Janet."
Postiglione said he believed March was making a statement, but asking a question at the same time.
"It was actually a surprise this information came out, to be honest with you," Postiglione said.
Postiglione wrote March hoped to work out a plea deal and then said, "To be honest, I am scared [expletive]."
Postiglione said March then started lobbying for a plea deal.
He said some of what March offered seemed to imply guilt in the murder case. The defense said it wants this conversation out of the trial. They said March was not properly read his rights before the conversation.
Prosecutors said there was no need it wasn't an interrogation March did all the talking. The judge will rule next week or so.
March is scheduled to go to trial August 7 on charges that he murdered his wife, Janet.
NewsChannel 5 Plus will provide gavel-to-gavel coverage of that trial.
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March Jury to Come from Hamilton Co.
WTVF Channel 5 News - July 13, 2006
NewsChannel 5 has learned that the jury for Perry March's upcoming murder trial will be picked from Hamilton County.
Hamilton County is home to Chattanooga, the fourth largest city in the state.
The judge needs to tap into a large population center for a jury pool, which will probably include about 700 possible candidates.
Perry March's case has received a lot of publicity. Although, it was only for his most serious trial that his attorneys asked for a jury outside of Nashville. They specifically asked for one outside of the NewsChannel 5 viewing area.
Jury selection will begin there on August 7. The jurors chosen will be brought back here to Nashville and sequestered for the trial.
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Perry's Son Subpoenaed To Testify in Murder Trial
WTVF Channel 5 News - July 13, 2006
It's a shocking development by the defense in the Perry March murder case. They plan to call March's own son, (name removed), to testify during trial.
(Name Removed) will testify on behalf of his father who is accused of killing his mother Janet. It's unclear if (Name Removed) will be a friendly or hostile witness. Whatever the case, he'll likely be asked about what he remembers the night his mother disappeared.
This stems from an exclusive Newschannel 5 interview with (Name Removed). He was only five years old when his mother Janet disappeared from their Forest Hills home in 1996. Four years later, at age nine, he sat down for an interview in Mexico where he lived with his father.
This is what (Name Removed) said he remembered about the night his mother vanished.
"She told me she'd be back soon. She came in and gave me a goodnight kiss took her bags, went downstairs, got in the car and drove away," said (Name Removed) March, Perry March's Son in May 22 of 2000.
(Name Removed)'s comment contradicts what Arthur March, Perry's father says happened. Arthur said Perry told him he killed Janet with a blow to the head in the family home the night she disappeared.
The prosecution also has their witness list set. (Name Removed) March, is not on the list, but there are 59 other names. It's clear the jury in the murder trial will hear some compelling testimony from key witnesses.
When Perry March goes to court for the murder of his wife Janet next month, the prosecution will finally reveal the evidence against him.
Janet's body has never been found, and so much of the case will be circumstantial, based on expert and witness testimony.
Jurors will hear from Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, Janet's parents, and a host of police investigators. There's Captain Mickey Miller who headed up the cold case unit for years, and lead detective Pat Postiglione who discussed the murder case with March after his arrest.
Many of the names on the list are a mystery, and the Deputy District Attorney can't comment because of the gag order. But one key witness is at the top of the list, and that man revealed some of what he has to say at March's bond hearing last year.
Sergio Samuel Chavez was a business partner with March in Ajijic, Mexico. He said for months March confided in him about many things.
Chavez said March threatened him over a business dispute and he never forgot what March said to him,
"If you report me I will kill you the way I killed my wife," said Chavez in September of 2005.
One note, with the defense calling (Name Removed) March as a witness, the prosecution is sure to counter that. It's a good bet they'll now add some experts who will raise questions about how a child's memory can be manipulated. (Name Removed) March is now 15, living in Nashville with his grandparents. Neither he nor his younger sister, Zapora, have made any comment since their father Perry's arrest. The children lived for years with their father in Mexico
Plus, more names can be added to the witness list until the trial begins with jury selection on August 7th.
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Arthur March too ill to testify, prosecutor says
By SHEILA BURKE
Tennessean - July 21, 2006
A doctor says the key witness in the murder case against former Nashville lawyer Perry March -- his 78-year-old father -- is too ill to travel or testify against his son in next month's murder trial, a prosecutor told a judge Thursday.
The statements came after March's defense attorneys asked that his sentencing on theft and conspiracy-to-commit murder be postponed until Sept. 6, after the trial.
Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman did not say what was wrong with Arthur March but asked the judge that the father be declared unavailable in next month's murder trial. The father has been hospitalized in recent months because of heart problems.
But the jury will still get to hear from Arthur March in a videotaped deposition.
Whether that will help the defense or prosecution depends on what the father has to say. But his absence is almost certain to eliminate some of the courtroom drama, an outside legal expert said.
"It could play either way, but whenever you use the video or transcript you lose all the body language and everything that goes with a live witness being in front of a live defendant in front of a live jury," said Jim Todd, a former prosecutor now in private practice.
Arthur March was expected to be a star witness in the case against his son after pleading guilty in a related murder-for-hire case in exchange for leniency. The deal called for the elder March to cooperate with the government.
The father has said that Perry March confessed to killing his wife, Janet March. She disappeared without a trace in 1996. Arthur March also said he helped his son dispose of the woman's body somewhere in Kentucky but hasn't been able to remember precisely where.
Last month Perry March, 45, was convicted of conspiring to kill his wife's parents, Carolyn and Lawrence Levine, after jurors heard recorded conversations of father and son plotting to kill the couple with a jail inmate. A judge will decide whether those conversations will be played before the jury during the trial, scheduled to begin Aug. 7.
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A. March: Body first hidden in 'leaf bag'
On tape, father says body moved to Ky.
By SHEILA BURKE
Tennessean - August 13, 2006
Videotaped testimony of Arthur March Saturday painted a portrait of a man who would do almost anything to protect his son -- even if it meant destroying valuable evidence, cleaning up so police wouldn't find blood and dragging a body in the middle of a night.
When asked why, all March said was: "He's my son!"
Jurors saw the father turn against the son in the fourth day of the Perry March murder trial when the 78-year-old described how he tried to cover up the murder of his former daughter-in-law.
Janet March disappeared Aug. 15, 1996, and her body has never been found.
The man who says he disposed of that body -- Arthur March -- was not present in the courtroom because a doctor has said he is too sick to travel from a Kentucky prison and too sick to testify.
Instead, jurors listened to three hours of a videotaped deposition in which he described in great detail the steps he took to help his son.
For the prosecution, Arthur March is the next best thing to having a body and having a witness to the murder because he says he saw the body and even disposed of it.
For the defense, his testimony is suspect because he told the tale when he was facing substantial prison time and when his two other children were threatened with charges themselves.
Both father and son plotted to kill Janet March's parents. Arthur, as defense attorneys pointed out, was facing up to 20 years in prison before he cut a deal with federal prosecutors to serve 18 months.
The woman's parents, Carolyn and Lawrence Levine, sat in the courtroom as Arthur March told how he and his son drove to a construction site so they could remove Janet March's body.
It was sometime after Sept. 23, about five weeks after the woman vanished, when Perry March told his father that needed his help moving the body.
"He asked me to help him dispose of the body because they were doing construction work, and where the body was, was approximately 10 yards from where the road went to where the construction was," Arthur March said.
The father said the son drove him to the site in Nashville and told him to walk up an area to find the body. With flashlight in hand, the father said he found an area with some dirt on top of it.
He said the body was in what he called a "leaf bag" or a large trash bag.
"And were you able to get the body in the leaf bag, the trash bag, without digging yourself?" Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman asked him.
"Yeah, but I pushed a little bit of the dirt of the top with my hands and, and then closed up the -- the bag -- and pulled it down a hill."The bag contained bones and clothes, and he could drag it, he said. When he got to the car, Arthur March said each man picked up an end of the bag and stuck it in the back of the Volvo. It was Janet March's Volvo, the one that had been found in a Belle Meade area apartment complex on Sept. 7.
The two men drove just past the Kentucky-Tennessee line and stopped at a hotel. The son stayed in a hotel and told his father to get rid of the corpse, the father testified.
So Arthur March said he got into the car, drove up Interstate 65 to the Bowling Green, Ky., area to find a place to put the body. He came by two creeks but said they were too shallow to put the corpse in, so he kept driving. About daybreak, Arthur March said he spotted a brush pile off to the side of the road and decided that's where he'd put the corpse. He said he thought it would be incinerated.
Arthur March has said that he couldn't lead authorities back to that spot because the interstate was widened and the topography changed completely.
In the videotape, he said he drove up from his home in Mexico to Nashville that year to help Perry take care of his children. Eventually, Perry told him that his wife was dead and he needed him to clean up some bloodstains, the elder March testified.
He said his son called it an "accident."
Perry March asked him to check the driveway outside the kitchen entrance for blood and to clean it, Arthur March said. But even though he never found any bloodstains, Arthur March said he washed the driveway with water, anyway. He also said he never found any bloodstains inside the house.
The father said it was he who removed the hard drive on his son's computer. His son asked him to get rid of it and another item related to the computer, he said.
Police wanted to see what was in that hard drive, and when they came looking for it while executing a search warrant on the March's Blackberry Road home in September of 1996, it was gone.
Thurman, the prosecutor, has said that Janet March was clearly looking for information in the computer the day before she disappeared. The woman had an appointment with a divorce attorney the next day. Prosecutors have said the appointment cost her her life.
Arthur March was one of nine witnesses who testified Saturday.
Dr. William Bass, a forensic pathologist who started the "Body Farm," at the University of Tennessee, said that a body in August in the same condition that Arthur March described would be skeletonized after three weeks.
Under cross-examination, defense attorney William Massey asked whether the body parts would have been moved by animals and whether the bag would have been ripped.
Bass said that animals such as dogs or coyotes would take the parts away from the grave site. Smaller animals, such as rats and raccoons and possums would not.
Jurors also heard from a former friend of Perry March's who said the former Nashville lawyer asked him to critique a novel March had written entitled "@murder.com," in which an attractive, dark-haired woman is murdered.
The trial resumes today at 1 p.m.
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Perry March sentenced
Updated with comments from the DA and the victim's mother -- After victim's family appeals for justice, judge seals fate of the convicted killer of Janet Levine March
Nashville Post - September 6, 2006
Following today's hearing and what appeared to be the end of this
sordid saga that has gripped the attention of West Nashville, both
District Attorney Tom Thurman and Janet Levine March's mother Carolyn
Levine offered their comments on the close to a struggle that has
stretched out over the last decade.
"I don't feel happy," said Carolyn Levine. "We're very pleased with
the verdict but I'm also feeling very sad." She went on to say that she
was sorry that she had not noticed her former son-in-law's "dark side"
sooner. Closing her statement to reporters following the hearing, she
thanked the media for respecting her family's privacy through this whole
affair.
After the Levines made their way to the elevators, Thurman spoke with
reporters and again asserted that "this was a total team effort by the
police department and the DA's office." He pointed out that state
charges against Arthur March would be dropped as a result of his
testimony against his son.
Other media questions for the district attorney were fairly tame,
one key example being a question regarding whether or not Thurman
believed that Perry March finally realizes that he cannot get away with
the crime. Thurman thought for a moment and replied simply: "I hope he
does. If he doesn't, then I don't know what it's going to take." Thurman
went on to detail how 36 jurors in three separate trials have heard the
facts of the cases and have found March guilty across the board.
Following today's hearing, and barring a success on appeal that would
be stunning should it come to pass, Perry March can look forward to
being in his seventies before he is eligible for parole. And should he
serve the full sentence, he will be just a shade over 100 years old when
he gets out of jail.
As originally published:
Perry March most likely will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier today sentenced the
former Nashville attorney to a total of 56 years in prison for murdering
his wife Janet, conspiring to kill her parents Lawrence and Carolyn
Levine, and stealing money from Larry Levine's law firm.
March, dressed in yellow jail overalls rather than the business garb
he wore during his three trials before Dozier this year, showed no
reaction as the judge pronounced sentences of five years for theft, 24
years for conspiracy and 32 years total for second-degree murder. The
conspiracy and murder sentences run consecutively. The theft years run
concurrent to the other penalties. March, who is 45 years old, did not
address the court.
The Levines did not testify. The parents, as well as their son Mark
Levine, issued victim impact statements to the court in lieu of
testimony. The statements highlighted their sufferings in the decade
since Janet March went missing at a time when she and her husband were
experiencing marital difficulties.
Defense attorney Bill Massey objected to numerous parts of the impact
statements. Massey argued that the statements included "inappropriate"
statements about Perry March, such as Mark Levine's rhetorical question:
"Who can doubt Perry March is a sociopath?"
Dozier ruled that some of the statements could be excluded from
consideration in the sentencing process. However, the sentence he then
pronounced made clear that the exclusion of those statements made little
difference to the outcome.
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Arthur March's deal turns sour
Judge says bargain for testimony too lenient, sets longer sentence
By SHEILA BURKE
Tennessean - Sept. 16, 2006
The sentence was five years, but the lawyer who represented Arthur March said it was tantamount to a death sentence.
The decision by a federal judge to ignore a plea agreement that would have allowed the 78-year-old to serve 18 months in a prison came as a complete shock, Springfield attorney Fletcher Long said.
"I did not foresee this happening, and to say that we're devastated is probably a gross understatement," Long said of U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell's decision to reject the agreement struck between federal prosecutors and March.
The judge rejected the deal, saying he thought the punishment in the plea deal was inadequate, given the seriousness of the crime.
Long said he would talk to his client's family to discuss whether to file an appeal. As it stands, the attorney said, March will have to spend roughly 42 months in prison when accounting for the time he's already served and reductions for good behavior.
March pleaded guilty to taking part in a failed plot to kill his son's former in-laws, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine of Nashville.
The Levines had campaigned for Perry March's criminal prosecution in the death of their daughter, Janet, who disappeared without a trace in 1996. Perry March was convicted in her death last month.
While in jail awaiting trial last year, Perry March tried to hire a fellow inmate to kill the Levines. The fellow inmate instead went to authorities. In recorded conversations, Perry March said he would have a better chance of acquittal in the murder case if the Levines were dead.
Arthur March agreed to pick up the hit man in Guadalajara, Mexico, and provide him room and board once the killings were completed. During an FBI sting, Arthur March was greeted at the airport by federal agents when he went to pick up the hit man.
After his guilty plea, Arthur March became a key witnessin the state's case against his son.
It was Arthur March who testified that he cleaned up so police wouldn't discover blood, tossed out valuable evidence and disposed of Janet's body.
"He did what most of us would consider unfathomable," Long said of Arthur's testimony against his son. Had they known that Arthur March would have been sentenced to five years instead of 18 months, he never would have pleaded guilty, the attorney said.
The father testified at his son's murder trial last month in a videotaped deposition because a doctor said he was too ill to travel to Nashville and take the stand. Arthur March has a history of heart and blood pressure problems and other ailments, according to Long, who added that he does not think his client will survive very long in prison.
In exchange for the plea and testimony, prosecutors agreed to recommend that Arthur March serve 18 months in prison, instead of the standard 12-year to 16-year sentence he was facing. Prosecutors kept up their end of the bargain and recommended the light sentence for the father.
"The judge saw otherwise, and we respect the judge's decision," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul O'Brien.
The judge also gave Arthur March three years of supervised probation. One of the conditions of the probation is that he not have contact with a number of people, including the Levines or his grandchildren, (children's names and ages removed).
The children are in thecustody of the Levines in Nashville. The children had lived in Mexico, where Perry and Arthur March lived, since 1999 until after Perry March was arrested and expelled from that country in August 2005.
Perry March, who was sentenced last week to serve 56 years in prison for the death of his wife, the plot to kill the Levines and stealing from his former law firm, filed a federal lawsuit this week seeking to have the kids placed with his wife in Mexico or his brother and sister.
During Friday's sentencing hearing, Lawrence Levine told the court that he hoped Arthur March would be locked up for a long time because he was afraid that he would try again to kill him and his wife.
As for the rejected deal, Long said he'd never seen anything like it, but O'Brien, the prosecutor, said judges will sometimes exercise their discretion and reject plea bargains.
"It happens," O'Brien said. "I can tell you as a prosecutor, it's happened to me before. It's happened in the past, and that's just the nature of plea agreements."
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Father of convicted murder Perry March dies
Associated Press - December 23, 2006
NASHVILLE, Tenn. Arthur March, the father of former Nashville attorney Perry March, who was convicted in his wife's death, has died.
He was 79.
W-S-M-V reported that March died Thursday at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, where he had been in poor health.
March provided key testimony in his son's trial on second-degree murder charges in Janet Levine March's death.
He told the jury that he helped Perry bury Janet March's body in Kentucky, though it's never been found.
Both Arthur and Perry March were convicted of conspiring to kill Janet's parents.
Arthur pleaded guilty to the failed murder plot. His testimony in his son's murder trial was in exchange for a more lenient sentence.
However, a judge ignored that plea agreement that would have allowed the elder March to serve only 18 months, sentencing him instead in September to serve five years in prison.
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DOC says Perry March won't attend father's funeral
By CLAY CAREY
Ashland City Times - December 23, 2006
Perry March likely won't get the opportunity to attend his father Arthur March's funeral, according to Dorinda Carter, Tennessee Department of Correction spokeswoman.
She said TDOC policy doesn't allow inmates to leave custody to attend memorial services.
Arthur March, 78, passed away Thursday at a Fort Worth, Texas hospital of respiratory failure.
His son is serving a 56-year-life for killing his wife and plotting to kill her parents.
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March Chronology
By SHEILA BURKE and CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
Tennessean - December 24, 2006
Aug. 15, 1996: Janet March disappears from the Forest Hills home at No. 3 Blackberry Road she shared with her husband and two young children.
Aug. 29, 1996: Perry March calls police to report his wife missing.
Sept. 12, 1996: Police announce they are treating the Janet March case as a homicide after searching her car, which contained her purse and personal belongings.
Sept. 17, 1996: Detectives and 50 police recruits search the March's home, surrounding property, Perry March's law office and an apartment he rented. The area around nearby Radnor Lake is also searched.
Detectives discover that the hard drive from Perry March's computer has been removed and label him a suspect.
Police seize a stained bath mat and shirt, a magazine, a letter, a legal pad, assorted notes and "fiber trace evidence." Investigators have never commented on blood-test results from the mat and shirt or on the significance of any of the items.
Mid- to late September 1996: Arthur March says he and his son drove together to an area near Bowling Green, Ky., "four to five weeks" after the fatal fight, to dispose of Janet's body, according to his plea agreement. Arthur March told authorities Perry stayed in a motel while he disposed of the body in a brush pile he believed would be burned. The plea deals do not identify a vehicle, but one of Janet March's relatives says they used her Volvo.
May 1999: Perry March moves to Ajijic in the Mexican state of Jalisco, taking his children with him. The town is about 30 miles from Guadalajara. Arthur March, a retired pharmacist, has had a retirement home in the lakeside town for several years.
December 2004: Davidson County grand jury indicts Perry March on a second-degree murder charge.
August 2005: Perry March is deported from Mexico to Los Angeles, arrives in Nashville and is held in Metro Jail without bail.
August-October 2005: Perry March meets and befriends Russell Nathaniel Farris, who was awaiting trial on three counts of attempted murder. Over time, March solicits Farris in a plot to kill the parents of his missing wife, Janet Levine March.
Perry's father, Arthur March, who was in Mexico, talks with Farris on the telephone for the first time. During the conversation, Arthur tells Farris he was expecting his call.
Farris calls Arthur March and discusses the plan to murder Lawrence and Carolyn Levine. Arthur March tells Farris he will be the "supportive agent," and tells Farris to get a gun in the United States because "nines" are illegal in Mexico. They talk about getting a silencer. Arthur tells Farris to wear "thin surgical gloves and not take them off at all." Arthur promises financial support to Farris once the murders are completed and Farris arrives in Mexico.
Arthur March tells Farris he spoke with Perry March and informed him that he and Farris had been in contact. Farris again discusses details of the plan to murder the Levines. Also that day, state authorities obtain permission to intercept Perry March's telephone conversations over a phone in the Metro Jail.
A telephone call between Perry March and Arthur March is intercepted during which father and son use code words to discuss the murder plan. Arthur March says the hit man will be "over there next week."
November 2005: Perry March and Arthur March are indicted in the murder-for-hire plot.
February 2006: Arthur March pleads guilty in exchange for an 18-month prison sentence, and is to testify against his son.
March 2006: Arthur March is treated at a Louisville, Ky., hospital for blockages in the arteries in his heart.
June 2006: Perry March is convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and three counts of solicitation to commit murder for trying to arrange the murder of the Levines.
Aug. 17, 2006: A Chattanooga jury convicts Perry March of killing his wife. He was found guilty after a nine-day trial of second-degree murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse. Arthur March was deemed too ill to appear at the trial; his testimony came via a videotaped deposition.
September, 2006: A federal judge rejects Arthur March's plea agreement and sentences him to five years in prison. Perry March is sentenced to 56 years in prison.
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Arthur March, 78, buried in Indiana town
Death comes four months into prison term
By COLBY SLEDGE
Ashland City Times - December 25, 2006
Arthur Wayne March, father of former Nashville lawyer Perry March, was buried in Indiana on Sunday, less than four months after he began serving a five-year prison sentence.
Arthur March, 78, died of apparent respiratory failure Thursday in a hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. He was sentenced in September in connection with a failed plot to kill his son's former in-laws. He was buried in Beth El Cemetary in Portage, Ind., after a graveside service.
Arthur March pleaded guilty in February to participating in a plot to kill Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, the parents of Perry March's first wife, Janet Levine March.
The father testified against his son when Perry March was tried for murder in the disappearance of Janet March 10 years ago. Arthur March, who had serious illnesses, testified in exchange for 18 months in prison, but that plea deal was later thrown out by a judge.
Both Arthur and Perry March were deported from Mexico, where Perry March and his second wife Carmen Rojas Solorio lived in the town of Ajijic, Jalisco. A woman who answered the phone at the last known home of Carmen Rojas said she no longer lived at that number. Attempts to reach Arthur March's family were unsuccessful.
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Perry March Loses Battle Over Kids
CBS News - December 26, 2006
Perry March has lost his legal fight to get his kids sent back to Mexico.
After March was found guilty of killing his wife Janet in September, he then sued her parents Lawrence and Carolyn Levine. March was trying to get custody of his kids away from them. He wanted the kids to stay with his new wife Carmen in Mexico.
Friday, a federal judge dismissed the case citing a number of reasons. First, that March had been kicked out of Mexico, and second, he's failed to prove he is legally married to Carmen.
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Perry March Sues Key Witness Farris
CBS News - Jan 3, 2007 03:33 PM
Perry March filed a lawsuit Monday against Russell Nathaniel Farris, Vickie Farris and Nashville lawyer Justin Johnson for lying about him in public, according to the Tennessean.
Farris was the key witness for the prosecution in the trial against March, the Nashville lawyer who was convicted in August of killing his wife Janet and plotting to kill her parents. Tape recordings between Farris and March from prison were instrumental in March's conviction and sentencing to 56 years in prison.
March asked for a jury trial and an unspecified amount of money in compensatory and punitive damages in his handwritten letter to the Davidson County Circuit Court.
March is currently serving his sentence from a prison in Tiptonville, Tenn.
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March case becoming a book; is movie next?
Local writers strive to give tale proper sensitivity, Nashville flavor
By JONATHAN MARX
Tennessean - January 4, 2006
The disappearance and murder of Janet Levine March captured Nashville's attention like no crime since the still unsolved 1975 murder of 9-year-old Marcia Trimble.
For Michael Glasgow and Phyllis Gobbell, the March case had all the makings of a book. The two Nashvillians have penned a true-crime account of the case, An Unfinished Canvas: A Story of Love, Family and Murder, to be published as a mass market paperback this fall by Berkley Books, a division of Penguin-Putnam. And they're exploring possibilities for a film adaptation.
March's story is captivating on a number of levels, and chilling in its details, beginning with the Nashville mother's unexplained disappearance in August 1996. As events unfolded, police zeroed in on her husband, Perry, as a murder suspect.
Eventually, he was extradited from his new home in Mexico and convicted in 2006 after his father, Arthur, testified that Perry admitted to the murder.
"This story has an almost Shakespearean complexity to it," Glasgow observes. "Family was very important, and not just from the standpoint of Janet's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, but also from Perry March's standpoint. You had a father, Arthur March, who did what he felt he needed to do for his son, and you had a brother and a sister who stood by Perry for years and years."
As many Nashvillians recently learned, the story has taken on an added wrinkle with the Dec. 21 death of Arthur March, who was in prison in Forth Worth, Texas.
Idea emerged over a year ago
An Unfinished Canvas had its beginnings in a writers' group to which both Glasgow and Gobbell belonged. It was upon the suggestion of a fellow group member, Doug Jones, that the two authors decided to try their hand at writing a full-length book about the Janet March case.
"Doug thought there was a story there," Glasgow explains, "but he didn't have time to work on it, so he asked us if we'd be interested in thinking about it. We'd followed the story like everybody else, so we decided to give it a shot."
That was a little over a year ago. In late December 2005, Glasgow and Gobbell put together a book proposal and sent it to several literary agents before settling on Los Angeles-based Sharlene Martin.
"I saw this as a film, and Sharlene had some background in the film industry," Glasgow says. "Phyllis and I worked diligently on a very long and detailed proposal. We sent it to her, and we heard back from her the next day. As it turns out, she received it about a week before CBS aired one of its many installments about the March case on 48 Hours Mystery."
The CBS news magazine will focus yet again on the March case in a broadcast scheduled for Saturday.
After Martin agreed to take on Glasgow and Gobbell's project, she began shopping the book around to various publishers. Initial response was strong, except for one thing, Glasgow explains.
"We heard from five or six publishers who expressed some interest before the trial, but their legal departments had advised them that until the trial was over, they should wait."
When the case finally reached its resolution with the sentencing of Perry and Arthur March in September 2006, Martin again circulated the manuscript, and several publishers again expressed interest. The agent held an auction, and "Berkley was the one we decided to go with," Glasgow says.
"They're a major publishing company, and our editor, Samantha Mandor, has an excellent track record in true crime," he says.
At that point, the two authors had to buckle down and start writing. Berkley set a Dec. 15 deadline, giving them three months to turn in a finished manuscript.
"It's been a lot of work," says Glasgow, who holds a law degree and works in real estate investment. "We had to squeeze this in, but it was a priority.
"Back in September, three months seemed like a long time out, but when we got to mid-November, early December, it seemed awfully tight. The manuscript was over 400 pages, so it was quite an endeavor."
Few involved in case could talk about it
If the Janet March story seems perfectly suited to a book or film, the question remains how Nashvillians will react to An Unfinished Canvas. There are those who, like Glasgow and Gobbell, followed the case with rapt attention, while others may consider the idea of turning a real-life tragedy into a book distasteful or even exploitative.
As far as the authors are concerned, they felt they could handle the subject with care and sensitivity.
"We talked about the fact that this story was going to be written, so if someone was going to write it, it might as well be us," Gobbell says.
"First of all, we've lived in Nashville. We're not coming in from outside and just trying to get a peek at the court files and going back and writing a book. We've been here throughout the 10 years (since Janet's disappearance), we've followed the events and the gossip, and I think we have a sense of the case and how it has played in the community."
Through their colleague Doug Jones, the authors had the chance to make the acquaintance of cold case detectives Pat Postiglione and Bill Pridemore, who took over the investigation in 2002.
"The judge put a gag order on all the parties and all the attorneys involved in the case," Glasgow says, "so we weren't able to talk to the March family. But Postiglione and Pridemore are the ones who went to pick up Perry in Los Angeles when he came back from Mexico, and they're the ones who went to Houston to pick up Arthur March.
"They probably know more about the case than anybody, except possibly Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman, who tried it. We met numerous, numerous times with them, and of course we did our own research through the court files and public records. We went through volumes and volumes of stuff."
Glasgow points out that he and Gobbell labored to provide a context for the March case, exploring in depth the ways it played out in the life of the city.
"There's a lot of Nashville in the book," he says. "There are a lot of people discussed who aren't related to the case, just to give the audience a sense of what Nashville is."
Part of that context involves discussing the 1975 murder of Green Hills schoolgirl Marcia Trimble.
"That case haunted the city for a long time," Glasgow says. "So I had a lot of interest in the fact that Nashville got the reputation that it couldn't solve the real big cases. (But) when we got to know the cold case detectives, we learned of all the other cases that they had solved.
"There's a lot of discussion in the book about the inner dynamics of the investigation that the public has probably never heard before. Things were not always rosy in the police department.
"To be honest, we could have written a 600-page book. We had a hard time cutting things, and the book still may be really long compared to what Berkley had in mind."
For now, the authors are content to wait and hear back from their editor, while Martin works with the New York/ L.A./Nashville-based Agency for the Performing Arts to explore the possibility of a film deal.
When asked whether they have any other projects in the works, the authors let out a collective sigh.
"I think we're just reeling from having done so much this fall," Gobbell says.
Adds Glasgow, "We've done an insane amount of work in three months. This involved a lot of midnight oil."
_________________________________________________________________________________
Perry March Story To Become True Crime Novel
CBS Nashville - Jan 5, 2007 09:00 AM
Perry March is now in prison for the murder of his wife Janet, and the story of the criminal case is about to be published in a true crime book.
A feature film may not be far behind.
The book to be published this fall asks the question, can a man be convicted of murder when police have no body or physical evidence of a homicide?
Author Phyllis Gobbell knows the answer is yes. She like thousands of other middle Tennesseans watched as Perry March was convicted of killing his wife Janet.
"There are a lot of complexities about this story," Gobbell said.
It's a story she and co-author Michael Glasgow will tell in a true crimes account of the case titled "An Unfinished Canvas: A story of Love, Family and Murder."
Gobbell said she's followed the case since Janet disappeared in 1996 and was drawn to the key players - Janet, Perry, his father Arthur and Lawrence and Carolyn Levine.
"They're wonderful characters for a book or a movie," Gobbell said.
Not long after Perry was convicted in August, 2006 Gobbell's agent pitched the book idea and it was purchased by Berkley Books.
The paperback is due in September, and a movie may follow.
"Our agent certainly tells us there's a possibility. We certainly hope so," she said.
Gobbell said the book is factual drawing from interviews, court records and police reports.
She followed the drama to its courtroom conclusion, but said the book makes clear there is still mystery since Janet's body was never recovered.
"I will say I think we don't have all the answers and we may never have all the answers, but in the grand scheme of things, justice was done," she said.
The March case continues to get national attention. It will be featured in "48 Hours Mystery" at 9 p.m. Saturday on NewsChannel 5.
_________________________________________________________________________________
TV Program Focuses On March Murder Case
CBS News (Channel 4) - Jan 6, 2007 10:22 PM
NASHVILLE, Tenn.- The Perry March case continues to receive a lot of attention.
It was featured Saturday on "48 Hours Mystery," a documentary and news program on CBS.
In August, former Nashville attorney Perry March was convicted of killing his former wife Janet, who disappeared without a trace.
He was sentenced to 56 years for second degree murder for Janet's death; abuse of a corpse; tampering with evidence; conspiracy to murder his former in-laws Lawrence and Caroline Levine; and theft from the Levines.
March may be eligible for parole after 30 years.
The proceedings will be published as a true crime book, "Unfinished Canvas: A Story of Love, Family and Murder" by Phyllis Gobbell and Michael Glasgow.
The CBS program aired at 9 p.m. on NewsChannel 5.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Endgame
48 hours - January 6, 2007
 |
| Perry and Janet March |
Janet March seemed to have it all - two beautiful children, a successful
attorney husband, a dream house she designed herself and an aspiring
art career. But appearances can be deceiving and on Aug. 29th, 1996, she
was reported missing.
What would follow was an international
investigation that would last almost ten years. As Bill Lagattuta
reports, the case ended up with two members of a cold case squad who
would try to uncover the mystery of what exactly happened to Janet March
and who was involved in her disappearance.
After nearly nine
years since the disappearance of Janet, her husband Perry March returned
to Nashville, Tenn., to face murder charges. As he walked into the
courthouse, there was no telling what was going through his mind.
He
might already be looking ahead to his next move, or he might be looking
back on the series of events, stretching back 20 years, that led up to
this moment - back to the day he married Janet Levine and back to the
birth of his son, Sammy, and his daughter, Tzipi.
He may have
thought about the day he became the lead suspect in Janet's murder, and
back to the day he fled with his children to Mexico, to live happily
ever after.
Was his legal fight finally over? Until now, he had
always managed to outmaneuver everyone and he was about to try again,
with a move that would change everything.
Perry March, who first
spoke with "48 Hours" in 2002, has never wavered in his account of that
night and says he did not kill his wife.
March said after he put
their two children to bed, he and Janet began to argue. His wife was
going away, Perry March says, for 12 days. She'd be back on Aug. 27th,
just in time for their son Sammy's sixth birthday.
"And she had
prepared a list for me, uh, when I was upstairs with the kids. A lot of
things that needed to be done. Change the light bulbs, balance my
checkbook clean the basement, you know just a various list of things
that I had seemed to have dropped the ball on in the course of my ten
years with her. And she made me sign her list, that I would have these
things done when she got back. And she said 'See ya' and she started her
Volvo and she drove off," March remembers.
At midnight, March called Janet's parents, Larry and Carolyn Levine.
"I
said 'Perry, don't worry about it. I'm sure if you had an argument,
she's upset - she's probably driving around to cool off and she'll be
back. Call me when she comes home,'" Janet's mother remembers.
But Janet didn't come back in the morning and Carolyn says she became worried at that point.
Speaking
about their daughter's plans, the Levines say Janet was focused on her
kids, her marriage, a home and her art career; they had watched their
daughter fulfill those plans one-by-one.
In 1987, she married her
college boyfriend, Perry March. The couple began building a life
together, settling just a few miles from her parents.
Janet's
parents did help Perry advance, paying his way through law school; Larry
Levine later hired him to work in his law firm.
Meanwhile, Janet devoted herself to a promising art career and to her two children, Sammy and Tzipi.
Somehow,
Janet also managed to find the time to build a new house for her
family, which Perry says she had designed completely by herself; Janet
was living the life she dreamed of.
After his wife didn't come
home after that first night, Perry March says he "felt that if she
didn't make it back the first night that maybe she was really at a
hotel, you know, kind of luxuriating quietly."
But after another
day went by, Perry March says he became worried enough to call his
father Arthur, who was living in Mexico. A few days later, Arthur
arrived. There was still no word about Janet's whereabouts.
When
Janet didn't return home in time for Sammy's birthday party, Perry says
he began to panic. "Because wild horses would not keep her from that
birthday party," he explains.
Yet for all their worrying, neither Perry March nor Janet's parents called the police until two weeks after Janet disappeared.
"Carolyn
and Larry would not let me report it. They were very concerned that if
we reported something to the authorities it would end up embarrassing
Janet," Perry claims.
But the Levines say it was Perry who didn't
want to call the police. "Perry insisted he didn't want to go to the
police. He wanted to go see a private investigator," Larry recalls.
Perry says that is an outright lie and that he didn't contact the authorities because he "loved these people."
But
the Levines maintain their version of the story. "But Perry kept
telling us maybe she went there, maybe she went there," Larry says. "He
told us a story and unfortunately I believed him," his wife Carolyn
adds,
Carolyn couldn't help thinking about the conversation she had with Janet
on the day she disappeared. "She asked me to go with her the next day
to see a divorce lawyer. I was concerned for her marriage. It never
occurred to me that I should be concerned for her life," she recalls.
At
first, Nashville detective Mickey Miller treated Janet's disappearance
like any other missing persons case. "The first thing we did is start
checking credit card accounts and things of that nature," he recalls.
But
Janet didn't leave any kind of trail. Then, just a week into the
investigation, police found Janet's car, parked in an apartment complex
just a few miles from the March house.
Inside the car were a lot
of her personal effects, including her passport. This was no longer just
a missing person's case - now it was a homicide investigation and the
prime suspect was Perry March.
The fact Janet wasn't reported
missing for two weeks was working against investigators. "It gives
somebody, whoever committed this crime a chance to dispose of the body.
And, of course, you lose evidence with time," Det. Miller explains.
Police
searched the March house from top to bottom, vacuuming all of the
floors, checking bags and even processing the hardwood floors for
fingerprints and palm prints.
But it was what police didn't find
that bothered them the most: "One of the items specified by the search
warrant was a computer inside the home," says Miller. "Perry said that
when Janet left that she had typed out a note basically the contract
between the two of them for him to sign."
That list was
practically the only piece of evidence that backed up Perry March's
story. But police didn't believe him. In fact, they wanted to get their
hands on the computer's hard drive. Because they believed it would show
that Perry, not Janet had written the list. The problem was the hard
drive was missing. Someone else had gotten to it first.
Perry
March denied removing the hard drive, saying the only two people who
could have done it was Janet's father Larry Levine or his own father
Arthur.
Perry March's father was staying at the March house
shortly after Janet disappeared but he denies removing the hard drive.
As for Larry Levine, he says he "had nothing to gain by trying to get at
it."
Meanwhile, police were also concerned about something else
they didn't find: the tires on Perry March's car. Six days after Janet
disappeared, March replaced the tires with new ones.
Det. Miller
says that according to the tire company, the tires did not need
changing. "In fact they questioned that, why the tires were being
changed, and Perry said he just didn't like the type tires that were on
the car at the time and he wanted a different brand," he says.
As
investigators struggled to come up with enough evidence to charge Perry
March, he stopped cooperating with the police. Then he packed up and
moved to Chicago, taking with him his two children.
The Levines immediately filed for visitation rights with their two grandchildren but Perry March fought them for two years.
In 1999, once the Levine's were granted visitation rights, Perry March was nowhere to be found - he had moved to Mexico.
Asked why he left the country, March tells 48 Hours, "I moved to Mexico because I needed to get the hell out of dodge and start a new life and get out of their clutches."
He and the children were already far away in Ajijic, the Mexican town his father Arthur had retired to years earlier.
Arthur
and Perry March were living in a Mexican paradise. One year later,
Perry March and his children moved into a house along with his new
bride, Carmen Rojas and her three kids.
At the time, there were
still no criminal charges against Perry March. Asked if he thinks his
son was being unfairly accused, Arthur March joked, "Is the pope
Catholic?"
But that's not what Janet's parents believed. Larry
Levine says he was "100 percent, unconditionally positive," that Perry
had killed his daughter.
The Levines won a wrongful death suit
against their son-in-law, and then showed up in Mexico with legal papers
granting them visitation rights to see their grandchildren. But before
Perry March showed up to try and stop them, the Levines took their
grandchildren to Nashville and fought for permanent custody.
But
their victory was short-lived. Thanks to an international treaty, a
federal judge forced the Levines to send the children back to Mexico and
their father.
Reunited in Mexico, Perry March and his family had
a lot to celebrate; besides the return of his children, his wife Carmen
gave birth to a daughter, Azul.
But Perry March and his family were totally unaware of what was brewing for him in Nashville.
Back
in the United States, Pat Postiglione was determined to seek justice in
the disappearance of Janet March. Sgt. Postiglione and his partner,
Bill Pridemore of Nashville's cold case squad took over the case, six
years after the disappearance.
Evidence such as the missing hard
drive, Perry March changing his tires six days after Janet went missing,
as well as his lack of cooperation, convinced detectives March had
killed his wife.
But detectives still had one major obstacle. "Do
we have a body? No, we don't have a body. Do we have anything that
indicates she's dead? Blood for example. We had nothing like that,"
Postiglione recalls.
The Levines, meanwhile, had never given up. They have been relentless to get custody of Sammy and Tzipi and justice for Janet.
Some eight years after Janet mysteriously vanished, the detectives decided it was time to take a shot.
In
Dec., 2004, a secret grand jury indicted Perry March for murder. And as
it turns out, the Mexican authorities were also building a case against
him for visa fraud and were glad to cooperate. They kicked him out,
handing Perry March over to the FBI, who transported him to Los Angeles.
From there, detectives Pridemore and Postiglione escorted him
back to Nashville. Back in Tennessee, March was booked on murder
charges; he pleaded not guilty, and in the hearing one month later, he
was unable to make bond set at a whopping $3 million.
He was
placed in an isolation unit at the county jail to await trail. Behind
bars, he might not have had much time to socialize, but Perry March
quickly made an unlikely friend.
March told Russell Nathaniel
Farris he had a plan that could solve both of their problems. "He starts
telling this person how good life is in Mexico. How you fellow inmate
would enjoy life in Mexico," Postiglione explains.
And then,
Perry March made one of the biggest mistakes of his life. "He befriends
Nate Farris and solicits him to kill the Levines," says Det. Pridemore.
Farris played along, but secretly went to the police. Facing attempted murder charges of his own, Farris agrees to cooperate.
Authorities
gave Farris a digital recorder to tape his conversations, hoping to
listen in on Perry March's plan to commit double murder.
Over two days, Farris recorded a number of conversations with Perry March.
"When
we heard him talk about, 'make sure you do it when the kids are not
there,' we just found it incredible," recalls Postiglione.
Next, March could be heard giving Farris the Levines' street address. Why would Perry March want the Levines murdered?
Det.
Pridemore's theory: "With his hatred of the Levines, he starts
calculating how much better his case will be if they were gone."
And
what was Farris supposed to get out of this? A one-way ticket to the
good life in Mexico. The deal was that if he killed the Levines, he
could live in luxury in Mexico, with the help of Arthur March, according
to his son Perry.
"My dad will stash you as long as it's
necessary," Perry March could be heard telling Farris. "He'd love ya,
trust me. My dad would take care of you like a son."
Perry March and Farris cooked up a code name to be used in contacting Arthur March in Mexico: "Bobby Givings."
When
detectives took Farris out of the isolation unit, Perry March believed
he made bond and was out on the street. In fact, in a room at a
Nashville police station, Farris was making phone calls to Arthur March.
"The
first conversation. They were in discussions about killing the Levines
five minutes into the first conversation," Postiglione explains.
"You know about our agreement?" Farris could be heard asking Arthur March.
"No, I'm sorry, I don't know anything. He said you call and I was just to listen and you would talk," March replied.
"I
know, know things have been hard because of the Levine people, man.
It's time that all this s--- is dealt and done with," Farris said.
As
Perry March sat in a Nashville jail facing trial for one murder, he
thought his new pal Russell "Nate" Farris was making good on his promise
and committing another.
"He thought he had Nate wrapped around his finger. The truth is, Nate had him wrapped around his finger," Postiglione says.
Using
the alias "Bobby Givings," Farris made phone calls to Perry March's
father in Mexico about the hit on the Levines and it didn't take long
for Arthur March to implicate himself in the murder plot.
"Tell me what you need and I'll take care of it if I can, possibly," March told Farris.
"The
first conversation they were on, within five minutes into the
conversation, they're discussing guns," says Det. Postiglione. "Within
five minutes, Arthur doesn't flinch."
"Okay, you gonna take one or two out?" March asked Farris.
After two weeks working out the plan, Farris called Arthur March to tell him it was all over and that he had killed the Levines.
Farris then gave Arthur March his travel plans for their rendezvous in Mexico.
"In
his mind, he's picking up Nate. Who just killed Larry and Caroline
Levine. In his mind the job is done. So he's there to pick him up. Until
the FBI agent approaches him [at the airport]," Postiglione explains.
Arthur
March was arrested and brought back to Nashville; father and son were
together again, this time behind bars and both charged with conspiracy
to commit murder.
The Arthur March we had known over the course of this story has always
seemed full of life, always a force to be reckoned with. When 48 Hours meet with him months after his arrest, he seemed a totally changed man.
Arthur
March denied conspiring with his son to have the Levines killed. "I
never talked to them. Never talked to my son about it," he said.
"When you listen to those phone calls, it sure sounded like you were in on it," Lagattuta remarked.
"Well, it does. I have a big mouth. And I probably said something things I shouldn't have said," March replied.
But
Arthur March had only begun to talk. Facing the rest of his life in
jail, Arthur was about to give police the kind of break they never
dreamed they'd get.
"He offers to give, to plead guilty to the
conspiracy charge. To give us all the information and cooperate with the
investigation pertaining to Janet's death. And testify against Perry if
necessary," Postiglione explains.
In exchange for a lighter
prison sentence, Arthur March agreed to tell all he knew about his
daughter in-law Janet's disappearance in a videotaped deposition.
"The
first time that Perry told me about it was at the house when he asked
me to clean up. He was afraid there was some blood stains," Arthur March
testified during the deposition.
"Did Perry tell you that he had killed Janet?" Lagattuta asked March.
"Yes!" Arthur March replied.
March
said his son had told him they had had an argument. "She grabbed a
butcher's knife or a kitchen knife and came at him, and he picked up a
wrench, small wrench. And hit her with it. And he hit her too hard, and
she, she was dead," he told Lagattuta.
Arthur March says his son told him it was an accident and that he believes that version of the story.
As
the weeks went by, Perry March kept up the charade that he had nothing
to do with Janet's disappearance. Then two months after she went
missing, Janet's burial site suddenly didn't seem so safe anymore. The
heavily wooded area where her body had been placed, was about to be
developed. Fearful that she would be discovered, Perry March needed to
cover his tracks, and so he turned to the one man he knew who would be
there to help him: his father.
"The only thing I did was help him remove the body from where he had buried it," Arthur March recalls.
The
body had been buried just a few miles from the March house. "I picked
it up, the body, and it was nighttime. I had one little flashlight. But I
got it done," Arthur March explains.
Perry March, meanwhile, sat
in the car while his father went to get Janet's body. They put the
trash bag containing Janet in the trunk of the car, and according to
Arthur, drove to Kentucky.
Arthur March dropped Perry off at a motel and continued on, looking for a remote spot to dispose of Janet.
"I
was gonna put it in water, like a stream. But I found there wasn't
enough water in it. So that's when I took it back, and I saw this pile
of brush. And I got the idea, 'Well, that's the best way to get rid of
the body, 'cuz nobody'll ever find it.' And that's what I did," Arthur
March remembers.
And he was right. Arthur March later tried to
help detectives locate the spot where Janet was buried but they never
were able to find her body.
Still, with what Arthur March told them, detectives were finally able to
piece together the puzzle that eluded them for 10 years. "He said he's
following the creek all the way along. As he's driving back, he looks
up, and low and behold, there's this brush pile," Postiglione says.
"And
he takes parts of the body, disposes in the brush pile. Drives back.
Tells Perry, 'Don't worry about it. It's taken care of. Go back to
sleep.' Perry just sleeps through this whole thing. While his dad is out
there disposing of his wife," Det. Pridemore adds.
Asked how he
could do something like this to his daughter-in-law, March tells
Lagattuta, "Because at this point in time, she was not my
daughter-in-law anymore. She was just a dead body."
"She was just a dead body. It was over. I had taken care of the body in such a way that nobody would ever find it," he says.
With
the startling confession of Arthur March, detectives Postiglione and
Pridemore believed they have a solid case against Perry March, despite
not finding a body.
In the summer of 2006, ten years after Janet vanished, Perry March finally faced a jury for the murder of his wife.
Setting the stage, prosecutor Tom Thurman says Perry March killed in a rage.
With
no direct evidence to connect Perry March to the crime, defense
attorney Bill Massey argued that with no body, there was no murder.
Prosecutors may not have a body, but they do had Arthur March, the man who says he buried the body.
Asked
how March reacted to his father's testimony against him, Det. Pridemore
says, "The way I looked at it is, as if it was some stranger up there
lying."
Another key witness was Perry March's jail house "buddy," Nathaniel Farris.
Along with Farris' damning testimony, jurors also heard the audio tapes of Perry March plotting to kill the Levines.
"You
take your time at it, you don't make any mistakes, you go carefully,
you figure your reconnaissance, you do what you need to do," Perry March
could be heard in a taped conversation with Farris.
But despite the incriminating evidence, March's attorney kept insisting no one knew what happened to Janet.
The
defense told jurors Janet left the house alive that night and that
there was an eyewitness: her son Sammy, who they say was up in the
window and as she's backing out.
"She told me that she'd be back soon," Sammy testified.
The
defense introduced a television interview from 2001, with Perry's son
Sammy, saying, "She came in and gave me my goodnight kiss. And then I
got out of bed and went to the window to wave to her when she was
driving away in the car."
The last person to take the stand was
Perry March himself, the man who for ten years had proclaimed his
innocence but suddenly had nothing to say.
"I choose not to testify," he told the court.
After
one week of testimony, the jury began deliberating. After just ten
hours of deliberations, jurors found March guilty on all three counts:
second degree murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
The irony is that prosecutors may not have had enough to convict Perry
At
the age of 45, Perry March will most likely spend the rest of his
natural life in prison. Convicted both of conspiracy to commit murder
and second degree murder, the judge sentenced Perry March to 56 years.
"I'm
sorry and sad that our grandchildren have had to live ten years without
their mother and with the person who took her from them," Janet's
mother Carolyn commented after the sentencing.
Sammy, now age 16 and Tzipi, age 13, are living with their grandparents Carolyn and Larry Levine in Nashville.
As
for Arthur March. the man who helped convict his own son, the judge
rejected his plea agreement of 18 months, and sentences him to five
years.
And two Nashville detectives were happy to finally close the book on Perry March.
"His
days are done in terms of Perry March, Perry March, Perry March. That's
over. And now maybe the attention will be on Janet versus on Perry. It
was a satisfaction of knowing that finally some justice for Janet so to
speak, she's finally gonna get some justice," Det. Postiglione says.
"There's
not a day that goes by that I don't think about my daughter," Carolyn
comments. "She had so many talents. She was a very caring, compassionate
person. Every parent thinks their kid is special. But she really was."
Arthur March died of natural causes in federal prison on December 21, 2006. He was 78 years old.
Perry March will be eligible for parole in 30 years. He'll be 75.
A court has given the Levine's permanent custody of the children.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Judge shaves two years off March sentence
Parole now possible in 2040
Nashville Post - July 16, 2008
Convicted wife-murderer Perry March has gotten two
years shaved off of his sentence for a charge of stealing from his
father-in-law's law firm. The state now must let him out when he is 99,
not when he is 101.
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals ruled yesterday
that Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier, in sentencing
March for a 2006 theft conviction, "erroneously applied an enhancement
factor – that the defendant abused a position of trust – to lengthen his
sentence from the presumptive sentence of three years to five years."
After three separate criminal trials, Dozier sentenced the former Nashville attorney
in 2006 to a total of 56 years in prison for murdering his wife Janet,
conspiring to kill her parents Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, and
misappropriating money from Larry Levine's law firm.
A Department of Correction Web site
currently shows that March's sentence will end on Jan. 20, 2062 – six
days after his 101st birthday – with parole possible on May 9, 2040.
Yesterday's ruling appears to shave two years off of each of those
dates.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Court rejects Perry March's appeal of murder conviction
The City Paper - January 27, 2011
A Court of Criminal Appeals Thursday rejected Perry March’s appeal of
his conviction in the murder of his wife, Janet Levine March, after she
disappeared in August 1996.
A Davidson County jury convicted March in August 2006 on second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and destruction of evidence.
In his appeal, March claimed the trial court erred in admitting as
evidence statements he made to Sgt. Pat Postiglione on Aug. 12, 2005,
recorded jail conversations involving March, testimony concerning
March’s conduct and a draft of March’s novel.
The Criminal Court of Appeals, however, affirmed the trial court's
decision and found that March’s right to a fair trial was not affected.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Perry March Loses Court Appeal
by Nick Beres
News Channel 5 - January 6, 2011
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Convicted murderer Perry March is almost
out of appeals. This comes as the Tennessee Supreme Court rejected his
latest appeal of his conviction for conspiracy to commit murder.
Four years ago, two juries convicted March of murdering his wife
Janet and of plotting to kill her parents Lawrence and Carolyn
Levine. Those verdicts brought a murder mystery that captivated this
city for more than a decade to an end.
March appealed both convictions. But the state Court of Criminal
Appeals denied March's request for new trials. He then appealed to the
state Supreme Court and in a recent ruling the justices upheld his
conviction for conspiracy to commit murder. They will rule soon on the
murder conviction.
Unless the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to take March's case -- he will
serve out his 56 year sentence at the Northeast Correctional Complex in
Mountain City, Tennessee.
_________________________________________________________________________________
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