The day before Thanksgiving 2015 was a long one for Jasmine Green and four sheriff’s investigators.
Green, then 19, spent over eight hours in a Richmond County interrogation room, much of it chained to a table, being grilled, cajoled and begged to reveal her alleged role in the death of Davyn Dixon the night before.
Dixon, 24, died from a gunshot wound outside the Hephzibah Fox Den home where he lived with other young men.
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Jacque Hawk, Green’s lawyer since 2017, said her admission after eight hours of interrogation to driving police suspect Mandley Stewart to Dixon’s home was a coerced and false confession.
Stewart testified Thursday on Green’s behalf. Both had been released on bond shortly after the alleged crime, and Stewart was never indicted for it.
Wednesday and Thursday, Richmond County jurors were shown the entirety of video of Green’s interrogation, except for periods she was left alone in the 10-by-12-foot room.
Green wasn’t read a Miranda warning until about four hours in, court records state.
During the interview, police denied Green’s requests to speak to her parents. She briefly mentioned her need for a lawyer then dropped the subject.
Hawk has attempted to have the confession thrown out and the indictment dismissed, but has been denied. Thursday, he asked for a directed verdict.
Green’s alleged confession was ”riddled with all kinds of problems regarding the voluntariness of her statement,” Hawk said, including “a ton of deceit” by investigators, he said.
Richmond County Superior Court Judge Jesse Stone said he’d viewed the video previously and denied Hawk’s motion.
The case is one of nearly 70 conflict cases reassigned to other prosecutors because Augusta Circuit District Attorney Jared Williams formerly worked for Hawk’s law firm.
It landed in familiar territory. Assigned to Columbia County District Attorney Bobby Christine, it’s being prosecuted by former Augusta DA Natalie Paine, who led the Augusta Circuit when police brought the charges, but is now Christine’s chief ADA.
During several turns questioning Green, Inv. Lucas Heise maintained she was hiding something. He cornered her behind the steel table, banged his hands on it and put his face and body inches from hers.
“Look at me. Look at me,” he insisted. “Do not let these boys make you into this used-up piece of trash.”
Rattling her leg chains, Heise told Green his own wife threatened to leave him and that he’d been demoted and kicked out of the Army.
In tones from a yell to a murmur, Heise demanded she reveal whatever information she was withholding. The truth, he said, “gets you out of this room.”
Lt. Brandon Beckman told Green if she did not reveal what happened, she would go to jail and be charged with murder.
After about eight hours, another investigator told Green she was being transported to jail.
At that point, Green said she’d taken Stewart, who she said had a gun, to Dixon’s house.
Green seemed surprised and angry when another investigator informed her that both she and Stewart would be charged with murder.
“We’re allowed to lie pretty much about anything” during interrogations, Inv. Ken Rogers testified.
The investigators had immediately obtained and dumped the phones of Green and Stewart. Green’s revealed text messages she’d sent to Dixon, angry he recently ended their relationship and asking to see him on the night of the killing.
Rogers said police watching the interview from outside the room believed Green was lying because her answers came too quickly, but denied they offered to release her if she revealed the information.
Green, who was on first-offender probation at the time of the incident, would be sent to prison for nearly three years based on the new charges. She has been out on a bond since 2019.
Stewart met Green while both worked at McDonald’s, he testified. Good friends, they hung out nearly every day, smoking marijuana and riding around in her black Dodge Neon, which had a very loud sound system, he said.
Stewart testified he’d never been near Dixon or his Fox Den home. He and Green went in voluntarily to be questioned by police and consented to DNA swabs, property searches and tests for gunshot residue. Investigators presented no DNA or gunshot residue evidence in the case.
The state rested its case Thursday. The defense continues its presentation of witnesses and evidence Friday.
