A Wrongly Convicted Man Spent 16 YEARS In Prison... The Story of Kevin Green

The instructions given to a jury during criminal trials tells them to only convict if the evidence is so overwhelming, no reasonable doubt exists that the defendant is guilty. Regardless of this, juries oftentimes get it wrong, and innocent people are sent to prison. In the case we will be discussing today, a jury determined a man was guilty based only on testimony that should not have been completely reliable due to the state of the witness. The man also had a clear and provable alibi. It didn’t matter. Emotions and anger led to a decision that cost an innocent man 16 years of freedom.

Kevin & Dianna Green

Kevin and Dianna Green were more or less a normal married couple in California during the late 1970’s. They were known, like many couples, to fight on occasion, but the 21-year old ex-Marine Kevin Green had no criminal history and did not seem to be a violent or troubled young man. The 20-year old Dianna was 9 months pregnant and Kevin was looking forward to becoming a father. One late evening in September of 1979, the couple was up late, possibly in an argument, although this is not completely clear. What is for sure is that Kevin Green decided to take a drive and grab a bite to eat. His wife decided to stay behind. The seemingly innocent decision to go grab some fast food would turn out to be life-changing for both Kevin and Dianna Green along with their unborn child.

As Green walked out to his car, he noticed an African-American man loitering around aimlessly. He forgot all about it as he drove to the local Jack in the Box. Upon arrival, he saw that the drive through line was extremely long. Rather that waiting in the line, he preferred to just keep driving to another location, and did just that. Green ordered his food, paid and started heading back for home. When he got home at around 1:30 in the morning, he arrived to a horrific scene. His wife had been beaten to death’s doorstep. There was blood everywhere and she was completely unconscious with a massive head wound. At first, Green thought she had been shot in the head and quickly ran to the phone to dial 911. There was little he could do for his wife and child as he waited for the ambulance to arrive. It’s impossible to know the horror and dismay he must have been experiencing. Little did he know this was only the beginning.

Dianna was rushed to the hospital and tragically, doctors were not able to save the baby. An emergency C-Section was performed and Dianna, whose heart was barely beating when she arrived at the hospital, miraculously survived, albeit with severe brain damage. She was not shot, but had been hit multiple times with a hard object, which split her head open in a star-shaped pattern. She was also raped and strangled, but not quite to the point of death. Dianna eventually recovered enough to return home, but doctors warned she would never quite be the same again. Her brain damage caused amnesia and her memories would be very unclear and oftentimes unreliable.

The police had already been investigating and Kevin Green was the earliest and most obvious suspect. However, his story checked out when police interviewed the workers at Jack in the Box. They confirmed he had been there and the food was still warm when police arrived yet the blood on the bed and pillow was bright red, indicating the attack had just happened. No blood splatter was found on Kevin - and none ended up on the Jack in the Box bag. A throughout investigation would’ve proven he couldn’t have done it. But Dianna had no memory of any one other than Kevin being in the room with her, and she said the last thing she remembered was her husband entering the room then being hit on the head. She couldn’t say for sure at first that he was the perpetrator. However, a few months after her return home, after conversations with her family and friends, she suddenly decided that it was Kevin who did this to her, and she was ready to testify against him. Dianna’s mother believed it was Kevin and had several conversations with Dianna, possibly shaping her new memory in an effort to ensure Kevin Green would be convicted for this horrible crime.

Gerald Parker

During the late 70’s and early 80’s, DNA technology was not yet available and all detectives could do was identify blood types through different bodily fluids. In this case, the only type they could find that was found on Dianna was Blood Type O – the same type that Kevin Green had. However, this meant almost nothing as about 45% of the population has Type O Blood. However, without another suspect, along with Dianna’s testimony, detectives thought it was enough and arrested Kevin Green of second-degree murder for the death of his unborn baby and attempted murder of his wife. There was one thing that made no sense. Why would he strangle her and beat her nearly to death, but still call for help without finishing her off? Did he have a sudden change of heart? Despite Green’s alibi and Dianna’s unclear memory, the charges stuck and the trial began.

When Dianna took the stand, she struggled to use and comprehend words. The brain damage was clearly extensive as she struggled to be understood while she gave testimony and had problems even spelling her own name for the court. None of this mattered. The prosecution pushed the point that the couple fought often and even used a psychiatrist to establish to the jury that Dianna Green was a reliable witness. The judge denied the defense the luxury of doing the same and hiring an independent psychiatrist to evaluate her mental state. So, the jury only heard from one psychiatrist, who was hired by the prosecutors, and one witness – the victim. They understood enough of what was that she was telling them - that her husband, Kevin Green, had done this to her. He tried to kill her and succeeded in murdering an unborn baby. With no other suspects to visualize, all the jury could do was look at Kevin Green and see a monster. Meanwhile, detectives tried to convince them that the matching blood type was a massive piece of evidence, although in reality, whether a person has Type O blood nearly comes down to the toss of a coin. The visit to Jack in the Box was just considered an attempt by Kevin Green to create an alibi, even though he had plenty of time to beat, rape and strangle Dianna. Of course, a deeper investigation would’ve shown this was not the case.

It may be understandable why the jury eventually came back with their verdict of guilty on all charges. However, what’s hard to comprehend is how law enforcement failed to take into account that in the same county around the same time, five other women had been beaten, raped and strangled in the exact same way as Dianna was. They were well aware of these cases and decided that this was not related. In those cases, none of the women survived, possibly because no one discovered them in time to call for help as Kevin Green did. The unknown murderer was called the “Bedroom Basher.” How could detectives not connect the dots and notice that there was a strong likelihood this was another rape and strangulation by the Bedroom Basher? Probably because it would end up as another cold case and they wanted convictions. Those cases simply remained unsolved. But as for Kevin Green - he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

Lt. Tarpley

All the files and evidence from the Green case was eventually put away and detectives and law enforcement officers moved on to other cases while Kevin Green now spent his days locked away at Soledad State Prison in California. Bitter and angry, he began dealing drugs and getting into fights. He experienced rage for a period of about four years before realizing he had to get control of his life and continue to fight in order to clear his name and get his life back. After quitting drugs and alcohol, he started to take classes in prison and earned a degree in computers. He also worked as an administrative assistant in the prison offices. Most importantly, Green continued to declare his innocence. When he met with the parole board for this first time, he was informed he would likely make parole if he took responsibility for his actions. Green refused to admit to a crime he did not commit and was denied parole.

Kevin Green had to believe he had the worst luck of any man ever born. Then, a break finally came. Lt. Tom Tarpley was investigating some old, unsolved cases, using forensic samples and DNA testing, which had now become possible, in order to solve them. In this case, he was interested in the murders of the late 1970’s that seemed eerily similar to what happened to Dianna. He noticed something even more telling than just the fact that the murders happened in the same county, around the same time, with the same M.O. He noticed that the Greens lived just a mile away from a Bedroom Basher victim named Debra Kennedy, who was murdered in October of 1979. He found the samples from the Kennedy case and Green case, and sent them along with another Bedroom Basher sample, for comparison against the DNA of known criminals in the database which didn’t exist back when these crimes were originally committed. All three samples came back matching the same man – and it was not Kevin Green. They belonged to Gerald Parker, who lived in the area in the late 70’s but was now in prison for raping a 13-year old girl.

Tarpley knew immediately that an innocent man had been in prison for well over a decade. But how to go about this properly? One of the first steps was to interview Parker and see if he would confess to the Dianna Green assault and murder of her child. Tarpley was amazed at the strength and size of Parker, who was also, like Kevin, a former marine. Things started casually during the interview and stayed focused on the Bedroom Basher crimes. Parker knew he was a suspect in those cases and gave unclear monotone answers, saying things like “I don’t remember” and “I don’t think I did it.” His dark and evil eyes revealed very little. However, when Tarpley brought up the Kevin Green case, something immediately changed. Parker’s eyes lit up with interest and his entire demeanor changed.

Parker explained he was familiar with the Green case and started to talk about it in detail. He sure had a lot of information on the case for some one not involved in it. But Tarpley changed the subject, focusing back on the Kennedy case. He could tell the entire time the only thing on Parker’s mind was the Green case. The interview went on for about another hour when Parker asked to use the restroom.

“There comes a point in your life that whatever you’ve done wrong, you have the chance to do the right thing. You have the chance to atone,” Tarpley told him. “This is your moment. You’re never going to get this again.”

Parker went to the use the restroom and Tarpley had a feeling he was about to confess. Shortly after returning, he mumbled something that sounded like “There’s a man in prison for the murder I committed.” Tarpley’s heart rate skyrocketed but he tried to stay calm and let Parker explain what happened that evening. He said that he had watched Kevin leave the apartment and waited until he drove away. Kevin Green saw him as well, as he indicated in his original statement. Authorities simply didn’t believe him. Parker went on to explain he entered the apartment through an open kitchen door and entered the bedroom, which was dark. Dianna likely assumed it was her husband. He explained how he raped her, strangled her, and beat her over the head repeatedly with a 2 X 4, explaining it in a specific way no one else could other than the one responsible.

Tarpley went to Soledad to visit Kevin Green. Kevin repeated his story to Tarpley and it was the exact same as it was back in 1979. His story had never changed and never faltered, which is not the norm when the story is a lie. Tarpley could see clearly that Green was completely innocent and he gave him the news, explaining that another man had confessed to the crime and DNA evidence had confirmed it. The DNA evidence had been available for several years at that point and could have freed Green much sooner. But at that point in time, Green was elated and after serving 16 years for a crime he did not commit, the court officially exonerated him. Gerald Parker was convicted of raping Dianna Green and killing her and Kevin’s unborn child. He was also convicted of the other 5 local murders – and the “Bedroom Basher” was officially identified.

Sadly, the court troubles did not end there for Kevin Green as his ex-wife would not completely believe the new evidence. She continued to claim Kevin Green beat her, left her for dead, and only then did the other man break in to rape her and beat on her some more. So, after a wrongful-death lawsuit that Dianna filed shortly after Kevin’s conviction was voided, she filed an amended lawsuit, which claimed that “The culpability of Gerald Parker does not exculpate Kevin Lee Green.” This case was eventually settled in 1999, with Dianna never accepting that Kevin was innocent. However, he holds no grudge against her, saying ““She was as much a victim of the system as I was,” he said.

Green was awarded $620,000 in compensation for time lost in prison in a bill signed by Governor Gray Davis. Although this sounds like a lot, it turns out to be about $38,000 per year, the amount of money he likely would have made anyway, if not much more, during the 16 years he was in prison. So, he was compensated for the money he might have made, but not for the time lost.

While in prison, he married a woman named Darlene. They spoke over the phone, and when he first told her he was innocent, she wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him. However, after her own personal investigation, she was convinced he was telling the truth. Her daughters were furious that she would marry a convicted rapist and murderer but after meeting him, they quickly came to the same conclusion their mom did. Kevin eventually returned to regular life, having to learn how to drive again, find work, pays bills, etc. He spends much of time visiting with his grandchildren and enjoying life as a free man.

This story is very tragic from a variety of angles – not only Kevin Green’s 16 years in prison, but also the death of an unborn child and the major brain damage caused to an innocent woman just sleeping in her bed. Every one who studies this story should also keep in mind, if they are ever on a jury – that beyond a reasonable doubt means beyond a reasonable doubt. This case seemed to have plenty of reasonable doubt but in my opinion, the jury let their emotions sway their opinion, since just seeing that poor woman on the stand must have been heart wrenching. To potentially let her killer go free would’ve been a difficult decision, but there was enough evidence – especially considering that there was another killer doing the same thing in the area at the time – that Kevin Green should’ve never been convicted. I hope you all enjoyed today’s video on the story of Kevin Green, an innocent man who spent 16 years in prison.