Pod Insights Dark Downeast The Murder of Raymond Green (Massachusetts) About this episode When a new manager was gunned down at work during a narrow window of time when most of the staff should have been on lunch break, investigators honed in on two possible suspects among the victim’s employees. To this day, the convicted killer and his supporters are convinced police picked the wrong one, but a key piece of evidence led the jury to a different conclusion.
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
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1:03 Kylie Low? When a new manager was gunned down at work during a narrow window of time when most of the staff should have been on lunch break, investigators honed in on two possible suspects among the victim's employees. To this day, the convicted killer and his supporters are convinced police picked the wrong one, but a key piece of evidence led the jury to a different conclusion. I'm Kylie Low, and this is the case of Raymond Green on Dark Down East.
1:39 Kylie Low? It was lunchtime on August 4, 1986, at the Belchertown State School in Belchertown, Massachusetts, and 30-year-old Raymond Green had just snagged himself a meatball sub and a soda from an eatery on campus. According to reporting by Lori Loizel for the Daily Hampshire Gazette, as Ray walked back to his office inside the power plant building, he stopped for a minute to talk to some other staff. Even though Ray was in a good mood and seemed happy, he clearly had a few things on his mind, too, like the disciplinary meetings he'd just finished before lunch. Ray had been hired as the plant facility manager for the school about four months earlier. He was tasked with streamlining the department and making it more efficient.
2:24 Kylie Low? He was also responsible for enforcing rules related to time off and lunch breaks, assigning responsibilities to his staff of more than 60 employees, and making recommendations for demotions, firings, and other disciplinary action. It was something he didn't take lightly, and Ray was described as being much more strict than the manager who came before him. Sometimes, his management style caused some tension among staff, but all in all, Ray seemed to be well-liked by those who really got to know him in the few short months he'd been at his post. Finishing his chat with the group outside the power plant building, Ray waved them off and then headed up to his office, where he planned to enjoy lunch at his desk.
3:08 Kylie Low? But someone else had a different plan for Ray that afternoon. An assailant met Ray at the door of his office and raised a gun in his direction. The shooter fired once and then twice, sending Ray to the floor. A third shot was fatal, but the shooter did not stop. He stood over Raymond's body and fired two more rounds into his head before fleeing the scene. Only a few minutes passed before Ray's secretary, Sally, returned to the building. She found Ray in his office, lying in a pool of blood. Christopher Harder reports for the transcript telegram that Sally ran to find the maintenance supervisor, Samuel, in a nearby office, and Samuel told Sally to stay put while he went to see Raymond's office for himself.
3:52 Kylie Low? Amidst the blood and Ray's lifeless body, Samuel saw spent shell casings on the floor. He grabbed the phone in Ray's office and called campus police and EMTs. He told them, "There's been a murder." Campus police roped off the scene as they waited for state and local authorities to arrive. Soon, the Belcher Town State School was a flurry of police activity.
4:17 Kylie Low? Raymond Anthony Green was a success story by any definition. He grew up the third youngest child in a family of nine children in Charleston, South Carolina. He and his family experienced poverty and hardship while he was a young child. And after his mother and father passed away, Ray moved to Massachusetts, where he had siblings and other extended family. He graduated from Dorchester High School in 1973, and then went on to earn his bachelor's degree in marine engineering from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1977. Raymond, whose nickname is listed as Ronnie in the Massachusetts Maritime Academy yearbook from 1977, loved travel and sports.
5:00 Kylie Low? Deborah McDermott reports for the Daily Hampshire Gazette that Ray was religious, hardworking, and deeply devoted to his family. For several years after he graduated, Ray worked as a merchant marine for Gulf Oil Company before returning to the mainland for jobs in California, and then back in New England at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. He accepted the position at Belchertown State School in the spring of 1986, a role his brother, Reginald, told Charlene Postel of the Transcript Telegram, quote, "It was a job that he wanted for a long time," end quote. Ray supervised the maintenance, carpentry, and masonry of the school with a staff of over 60 employees.
5:43 Kylie Low? His brother said that Ray may have been a quiet homebody outside of work, but he was a take-charge kind of personality at the office. He was committed to improving the department and the school as a whole, so much so that he went beyond the call of duty, sometimes working Saturdays just to make sure the job was done and done well. Raymond wasn't married, and he hadn't found a place of his own yet. He had been renting a room at the YMCA in Springfield since late July, but he was well on his way to establishing himself, until it was all taken away.
6:18 Kylie Low? An autopsy showed that Ray died from a gunshot wound to the head, and sustained other gunshot wounds to his right arm, one below his right eye, and other wounds on his head, including two behind his right ear. Judging by gunpowder residue in two of the head wounds, associate medical examiner Dr. Thomas Smith concluded the shots were fired at close range. The murder weapon was believed to be a 22 caliber pistol, though it had not been recovered at the scene. Witness interviews identified a very narrow window of time, just about 35 minutes, that the murder was likely to have occurred. Court records show that the investigation determined Raymond was killed between 12:25 PM on August 4th, when he was seen walking into the building with his lunch,
7:03 Kylie Low? and before 1 PM when Sally found him deceased in his office. Charlene Postel and Jules Crittenden report for The Transcript Telegram that police couldn't locate anyone who witnessed the shooting firsthand, and because of the loud machinery that ran inside the building, it was unlikely anyone heard the gunshots. Ray's office was also in a remote section of the grounds, far away from the housing units and other buildings. However, his office was also typically left unlocked, so if someone wanted to gain access, they probably could. It's important to note the controversial history of Belcher Town State School before going any further with this case. The school was founded in 1922
7:46 Kylie Low? to care for children with developmental disabilities. Years after Raymond's murder, the school would become the subject of lawsuits for its inhumane practices, abuse, and neglect of residents. The school closed in 1992, but at the time of Raymond's murder in 1986, it was home to more than 370 residents. Administrators had no reason to think that a resident might be responsible for Ray's murder, and it wasn't likely any of the residents had access to a firearm. However, the school also had a large staff of 1,400 employees, with a vast 785-acre campus and over 30 buildings. The gates to the school were unguarded,
8:29 Kylie Low? and the sheer size of it meant pretty much anyone could come and go. Not to mention, the school had a network of underground tunnels that housed the heating, plumbing, and electrical systems, and connected various buildings. If someone knew their way around those tunnels, they might serve as an escape route, to slip away undetected if that was their goal. Needless to say, investigators had a lot of ground to cover, starting with Raymond's office itself. Investigators recovered a bullet from Raymond's office, as well as two pairs of sunglasses. One pair was broken and later determined to belong to Ray. A piece of the sunglasses was found embedded in one of the bullet wounds in his cheek.
9:11 Kylie Low? The other pair were a pair of Foster Grant brand sunglasses, but it wasn't immediately obvious who they belonged to. Other evidence included pieces of a green scoring or scrubbing pad found on Ray's face. Later, during a search of school grounds, an officer digging through a large metal trash bin on the first floor of the powerhouse building, found a brown paper bag all crumpled up. The trash bin was located just outside the entrance to the tunnel system. Also, inside the bin and next to the crumpled paper bag was a green scoring pad rolled into the shape of a cone. It looked a lot like the fibers of the green scoring pad found on Ray's face.
9:56 Kylie Low? The officer collected the paper bag and scoring pad, and both were sent for analysis. It would take months for that testing to lead to any real conclusions. Meanwhile, interviews began with Ray's staff and other school employees, and it seemed that not everyone was thrilled with their new supervisor.
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10:52 Kylie Low? I've been trying to get a head start on holiday shopping this year, and I've realized that some of the best gifts are just really nice versions of things people already use every day, which is why I always turn to my BFF, Quince. I got my daughter the cutest lightweight puffer jacket, which is perfect for layering during these colder months. And don't worry, she doesn't know how to find the podcast app yet, so she won't hear this and spoil her gift. As a New Englander, high-quality outerwear is key, but I can't justify paying triple digits for a jacket that'll fit her for, like, two snowstorms. Quince is high-quality, everyday essentials, not high prices, because they work directly with factories and cut out the middleman. I know you can find what you're looking for from Quince:
11:36 Kylie Low? cashmere sweaters, organic cotton basics, bedding, luggage. A gift for everyone, and hey, pal, you deserve to treat yourself too. Gold hoop earrings, add to cart. Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns, now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Dark Down East. It's the best way to support the show.
12:14 Kylie Low? Robbery was ruled out as a motive for Raymond Green's murder early on, and his personal life didn't show any signs of someone who might want to kill him. But investigators were confronted with two reasons that may have formed a motive for his murder. As Ray's brother Leonard Green said, it was their family's belief that Raymond was targeted because he was new, young, and black. All of Ray's employees that he supervised were white. Paulo reports for the Daily Hampshire Gazette that in the weeks after Ray's murder, the NAACP Springfield chapter conducted their own investigation of the school and interviewed some employees. They found that there was a climate of racial hostility at Belchertown State School,
12:59 Kylie Low? and at least one other employee who was black received a death threat following Ray's murder. School administrators acknowledged that they'd received complaints and heard concerns about racism at the school and had been working to address that by increasing diversity among management roles. However, at the time of Ray's death, overt racism remained the reality for people of color at the school, and investigators were weighing the possibility that Ray's race could have played a role or have been the sole motivator for his murder. There was something else, too, that investigators believed could make up a motive to kill Ray. He was respected among his counterparts and administrators for his work ethic
13:43 Kylie Low? and initiatives that were improving the efficiency of his department. But some of the employees he managed had different feelings about their new boss and his new policies. Compared to his predecessor, Raymond Moore strictly enforced the length of lunch hours and changed policies relating to vacations and days off. He required his staff to request any time off in advance and did not allow compensation time or any overtime work. These policies were reportedly unpopular, however, Raymond's secretary later said that many employees actually preferred getting paid overtime wage rather than receiving time off credit in exchange for overtime.
14:24 Kylie Low? Not only were his new policies beginning to ruffle feathers, according to an anonymous source, just prior to Ray's murder, he was looking into reports of theft at the school and within his department. He was investigating complaints that some of his employees were ordering excess supplies then selling them for personal profit. This source did not say who may have been involved, just that Raymond was supposedly looking into the alleged theft. Part of Raymond's job function also put him in a position to make disciplinary recommendations, and that very morning before he was killed, Ray was in two disciplinary hearings for two separate employees. There was nothing to suggest his murder was random.
15:10 Kylie Low? It was far more likely that whoever shot him had singled him out for any number of reasons. So, investigators narrowed their gaze on employees who may have had issues with Ray, and who could have had information or knowledge of Ray's movements and schedule, and tracked him down in his office during lunch hour.
15:31 Kylie Low? Within days, police had interviewed dozens of employees at Belchertown State School, but were coming up with little information regarding the murder. According to reporting by Peter Pollard for the Daily Hampshire Gazette, investigators hadn't encountered anyone among the staff who showed signs of great or unusual anxiety, and those they'd questioned already were cooperative. Most of the people who worked for Ray had solid alibis for the time of the murder. Police intended to re-interview some staff they'd already spoken to and keep their focus on eliminating employees during the second week of the investigation, while mixed feelings swirled among those same school employees. At least one member of the maintenance staff disagreed
16:15 Kylie Low? that one of their own could have killed Ray, while others feared they could be working alongside a killer. The investigation stretched into September and October without an arrest. By then, the FBI had weighed in on the case with a psychological profile of the crime and potential perpetrator, or perpetrators. The FBI believed, based on the circumstances of the crime and compared to other similar cases, the murder could have been plotted by several people, and some of those individuals could also be at risk of being killed themselves.
16:52 Kylie Low? The FBI profile also theorized that the victim and killer knew each other, and the fact that Ray was killed at work and not after work hours was an intentional choice. The FBI suggested the killer or killers had knowledge of ways to commit a murder and avoid getting caught. This FBI psychological profile got people talking, but it didn't generate any immediate action. In November, the DA's office announced a cash reward of an undisclosed amount for information leading to an arrest, but nothing came of it. On the outside, it seemed like Ray's murder was at risk of going unsolved, but things were happening behind the scenes.
17:34 Kylie Low? Police and forensic chemists were working together to analyze and test physical evidence. The crumpled paper bag and the green scoring pad found near it in the metal trash bin just outside the tunnels beneath the power plant building seemed like incredibly important and relevant items, and testing confirmed that, to an extent, anyway. A chemist processing the crumpled paper bag located a fingerprint in a small drop of blood. The bag also had a small hole with dark residue surrounding it, which tested positive for lead. The cone-shaped piece of green scoring pad also tested positive for lead and gunshot residue.
18:17 Kylie Low? A small number of fibers from on or inside the bag were removed for microscopic analysis and other testing, and the chemist found that these fibers were consistent with the green scrubbing pad found with the bag and the fibers found on Raymond's body. Investigators theorized that the bag and the scrubbing pad were used as a makeshift silencer. The scrubbing pad may have also been intended to score the bullet, making it more difficult to compare and analyze to other ballistics evidence.
18:49 Kylie Low? The fingerprint found in the drop of blood was among over 60 individual prints at the scene and on the paper bag. Paulo and Deborah McDermott report for the Daily Hampshire Gazette that all of the fingerprints were sent to Massachusetts State Police in Boston for comparison using a computerized identification process. But that effort failed to generate a match. So investigators reverted to traditional methods of analysis and would manually compare the prints to any suspects. And after revisiting interviews with employees, police had zeroed in on two of Ray's own staff members.
19:29 Kylie Low? One of Ray's employees, a man I'll call David, had reportedly made some suspicious statements prior to Ray's death and some alarming statements directly to the lead investigator on the case. According to reporting by Marsha Blomberg for The Republican, when Massachusetts State Trooper Kevin Murphy interviewed David, he allegedly told the trooper that, yeah, he did have some ongoing issues with his boss Ray. They'd even gotten into an argument a few days before on August 1st. David claimed he brought his shotgun to work more than once, including the day of the murder, because he was fed up with Raymond and thought the shotgun would get him to back off.
20:12 Kylie Low? The red flags are strong with this one, and they just get bigger and brighter because David was working outside the powerhouse where Ray's office was located on the day of the murder, and David admitted to entering the building between the window of the murder to get a tool from the garage on the other side of the powerhouse. David explained that he went into the powerhouse building shortly after Ray was seen walking inside with his lunch, but David said he was basically just taking a shortcut through the building to the garage on the other side. He cut up to the second floor, went out a gate into a parking lot, and then to the garage to pick up the tool he was looking for. He said the walk took him 10 minutes.
20:56 Kylie Low? Other employees who were in the garage that afternoon reported seeing David there sometime between 12:35 or 12:40, and he stayed in the garage talking until after 1:00 P.M.
21:08 Kylie Low? One of the staff who was in the garage talking to David said they heard a sound, kind of like a hammer echoing around five times after David was in the garage and before 1:00 PM. The noise was odd to the employee because it sounded like someone was working when everyone would have been on lunch break. Knowing Ray walked into the building around 12:25 PM and witnesses placed David in the garage by 12:35 or 12:40, that could rule David out as a suspect if those hammer-like noises heard while David was in the garage were in fact gunshots, and if it really did take 10 minutes to walk from the powerhouse to the garage.
21:51 Kylie Low? But remember, the machinery in the building would have made it difficult to hear and identify gunfire either way, and the state trooper checked his times twice, and it never took him more than three minutes to cover the distance between the powerhouse and the garage, even when walking slowly. It was a discrepancy for sure, but not all that strong when it comes to proving someone committed a brutal murder. And David wasn't the only person facing scrutiny. There was another employee who had recently been directly impacted by some personnel decisions Ray had made. When analysis came back on key pieces of evidence, this employee's fingerprints were right in the middle of it.
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23:48 Kylie Low? Twenty-nine-year-old Kenneth Phoenix was a longtime employee in the maintenance department of the Beltertown State School. And as of August 1986, he was assigned as a water filtration specialist in the pumping station. Raymond was Kenneth's supervisor's boss. So there was one layer of leadership between them, but that separation didn't matter. A witness reportedly overheard Kenneth say he hated Ray, and it could have had something to do with two changes that directly impacted Kenneth's job. On the morning of the murder, Raymond had written two memos. One added to the list of things that Kenneth was responsible for, and the other took away some of his privileges.
24:30 Kylie Low? Now, it doesn't seem like one of the memos necessarily singled Kenneth out, but it rather updated protocols so that any power plant personnel, including Kenneth, was no longer permitted to run errands as part of their job. Kenneth used to do this all the time, running errands for his direct boss, which left him unsupervised for long stretches of time during his workday, often for hours. Ray had also recently assigned Kenneth to mark all of the fire extinguishers and emergency valves on the school grounds, which had been Kenneth's responsibility years earlier. There's not a lot of context around this task, but it seems like it could be considered busy work or maybe a tedious task handed down as a form of punishment,
25:14 Kylie Low? but that's just speculation only. Either way, Kenneth's previous freedoms at work were going away, and Ray was the reason. Investigators also learned that Kenneth was familiar with and had a key to access the tunnel system underneath the school, so he could have thrown away the paper bag and green scrubbing pad believed to be used in the murder. Investigators collected Kenneth's fingerprints for comparison to the prints on the paper bag, including one found in blood on the bag. After manual comparison, a fingerprint expert told the DA's office that there were at least two individuals with prints similar to those on the bag, so there was no positive identification at that point.
25:59 Kylie Low? After that, the FBI suggested additional procedures, laser and photo enhancement, in hopes of making a conclusive identification. By the time the FBI had stepped in to help with the identification, the bloody fingerprint on the bag had basically been destroyed by previous attempts to identify it. However, the original fingerprint had been photographed, and those photographs were sent to the FBI. An FBI agent reviewing the evidence identified the print as a "reverse print," meaning the valleys of the fingerprint had filled with blood, leaving a reverse marking. Knowing that, the print was compared to known suspects again. This time, there was a match.
26:43 Kylie Low? The FBI identified the bloody fingerprint on the paper bag believed to be used in the killing as Kenneth Phoenix's left index finger. Now, the blood on the bag that the fingerprint was in had yet to be identified as Raymond's blood. Investigators believed it was his blood and operated on that assumption, but no tests had conclusively proven that yet. Even without that confirmation, though, in July of 1987, almost a year after Raymond Green was killed, police arrested Kenneth Phoenix and charged him with Ray's murder. As Assistant DA David Angier put it, summarizing a colleague of his, quote, "There's a whole
27:24 Kylie Low? involved fact pattern, but the thing that really cinches it was the bag that the gun was shot through. The defendant has bloody fingerprints on the bag," end quote. On the day of his arrest, police raided Kenneth's house and searched his backyard with metal detectors. Among the items collected during the search were fireworks, 22 caliber bullets, one spent 22 caliber round shotgun shells, and gun paraphernalia such as cleaning supplies and tools, but not the murder weapon. In fact, the murder weapon has never been found to this day. Kenneth Phoenix was first arraigned in district court and he entered a not guilty plea.
28:08 Kylie Low? The prosecutor asked that he be held without bail. However, Kenneth was given and posted $5,000 bail despite the severity of the charges against him. This low bail amount upset many people, including Ray's family and other staff at the school. A member of the minority employee group at Belchertown State School said, quote, "Everyone is upset in terms of the low bail. They felt it was an overt racial cut. We felt the low bail was very, very devaluing to the victim and his family," end quote. On the contrary, Kenneth's supporters believed the low bail reflected what they all were sure was true, but investigators had the wrong guy.
28:51 Kylie Low? Kenneth's arraignment was flooded with at least 30 friends and family members who were certain that Kenneth could not be responsible for Raymond's murder because Kenneth was, quote, "a good kid," end quote. Friends said that Kenneth was friendly and outgoing, but could also be shy. To them, it didn't seem possible that he could murder someone. Another coworker said that Kenneth was a fantastic person, while Kenneth's former guidance counselor said that, quote, "It just didn't fit his character," end quote, and thought that maybe Kenneth was taking the fall for somebody else because he was that kind of kid, but couldn't see him doing that for a killer. Side note, people repeatedly referred to Kenneth as a kid, good kid, not that kind of kid, etc.
29:36 Kylie Low? Just to be clear, he was 29 years old at the time of his arrest. A few weeks later, on July 22, 1987, Kenneth was indicted by a grand jury and his case was moved to Superior Court. He again pleaded not guilty, and again the Commonwealth asked that he be held without bail. The judge ruled that Kenneth's bail would be increased to $75,000 with $50,000 cash, plus $25,000 in personal surety real estate holdings. It was significantly higher than the original $5,000 bail, sure, but still relatively unusual to grant bail to someone charged with a murder that could result in a life sentence without parole.
30:20 Kylie Low? The NAACP Springfield Chapter commented that low bail in a case with a victim who is black, quote, "falls into the conventional pattern," end quote. Kenneth's friends and family raised the money and put up their real estate so he could again post bail. Kenneth had been fired from the Belchertown State School following his arrest and with the pending charges. However, he held a part-time job at the local Belchertown Pharmacy and was offered a full-time position there managing the liquor department. That's where he went to work while awaiting trial. Now, there were still some outstanding questions to answer before trial, including the issue of the blood on the bag where Kenneth's fingerprint was allegedly found.
31:05 Kylie Low? The blood on the bag had not yet been conclusively identified as belonging to Raymond. So investigator sent a blood sample from the paper bag to an expert in human genetics to test it for certain genetic markers. Conclusions reached from the testing indicated that the blood on the bag where the fingerprint had been found was type O and consistent with Raymond's DNA. Tests excluded Kenneth Phoenix as the donor of that blood. According to the assistant DA, the results of the blood tests on the paper bag showed a 98% likelihood that the blood was from a black person, and only a 0.07% chance it was from a white person.
31:49 Kylie Low? These statistics, however, would not be admissible in court. The prosecution could only present testimony that the blood type was consistent with Ray's blood.
32:00 Kylie Low? The judge also eventually ruled that there could be no testimony regarding the firearms, bullets, and other related evidence seized from Kenneth's home. Essentially, since those firearms were not proven to be the murder weapon, the fact that he owned them was irrelevant. For unclear reasons, the bullet found in Ray's office couldn't be compared to any other bullets found during the investigation. So, the paper bag had both blood that was consistent with Raymond's blood and Kenneth's fingerprints on it. That would be the crux of the prosecution's case when the trial finally began in May of 1988.
32:41 Kylie Low? During opening arguments in Hampshire Superior Court on May 24, 1988, the prosecutor for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts said that the defendant, Kenneth Phoenix, "almost committed the perfect crime." His big mistake was throwing away a paper bag and green scrubbing pad so close to the scene of the murder. As strong as the prosecution presented their evidence to be, the defense claimed that Kenneth was somewhere else entirely at the time of the murder, that the state's blood and fingerprint evidence was inconclusive, and that someone else, a much more likely suspect, had killed Raymond Green.
33:22 Kylie Low? On the topic of his alibi, Kenneth did not present witnesses who could back up his claim that he was two miles away from the scene of the murder at the time it occurred, eating lunch at the pumping station, but with or without proof, that was where he claimed to be. As for the bloody fingerprint evidence, the defense argued that there were prints on the bag that belonged to other people too, not just Kenneth's prints. And even with his print on the bag, no one could prove when it was left there, and it did not prove Kenneth killed anyone. Interestingly, Kenneth had tried to get a fellow employee to testify as part of his defense, presumably as a "character witness," but that individual would actually take
34:06 Kylie Low? the stand for the prosecution. The witness told the jury about a conversation he overheard in which Kenneth said he hated Ray Green, but the witness couldn't remember when or to who Kenneth made those statements. Now, the defense suggested there was someone else who had said he hated Raymond, and this person had threatened Raymond before, and he'd allegedly brought a gun to work. The defense was referring to the person we are calling David, though they used his real name at trial. According to testimony, David allegedly had "type O" blood on the clothing he wore to work on the day of the murder. David had "type A" blood, but Raymond was "type O."
34:49 Kylie Low? Now, David was subpoenaed to testify, but invoking his Fifth Amendment right to protect against self-incrimination, he refused to testify. Instead, lead investigator, State Trooper Kevin Murphy, testified to what David said during questioning. He told the jury how David admitted to getting in an argument with Ray in the days before Ray was killed, and how he brought a shotgun to work to intimidate Ray. The judge, perhaps with an air of disbelief, asked the trooper why someone would admit to a law enforcement officer investigating a murder that they brought a gun to work on the day a fatal shooting was committed. The trooper suggested that David may have been "one of those people who wants to be
35:32 Kylie Low? involved in the celebrity of the case." Although an alternate suspect defense can be a powerful tool to generate doubt in the minds of the jury, there were details that didn't align with David being the alleged killer. For one, the print on the bag believed to be used to conceal the murder weapon did not match David's prints. What's more, the murder weapon was a pistol, not a shotgun. And according to the trooper, testing on this supposed blood evidence found on David's clothes he wore to work that day was actually inconclusive. For the record, David's attorney said that his client never made any of those statements attributed to him by the state trooper.
36:14 Kylie Low? Because it feels like a loose end, I'll tell you here that trial testimony revealed the second pair of sunglasses found in Ray's office were never identified as belonging to Kenneth, or to Ray, or to David, or anyone else. Their ownership is unknown. The case came down to two primary arguments: Kenneth's fingerprint in Raymond's blood on the bag used in the murder, versus an alternate suspect who could not be conclusively linked to the crime. The jury deliberated for about six hours and returned with their decision on June 3, 1988. Kenneth Phoenix, guilty. He was sentenced to prison for the rest of his natural life.
36:59 Kylie Low? Kenneth is ineligible for parole as is required in first-degree murder cases. However, the governor of Massachusetts could commute his sentence after 15 years, or he could be pardoned, but neither has happened. So Kenneth has gone down the path of appeals. His appeals have primarily focused on the blood, fingerprint, and paper bag evidence that was central to the case against him. He questioned if the testing was reliable for what it was supposed to do, whether the evidence was admissible at all, and if the blood was actually Raymond's blood. Because if it wasn't, then it wasn't evidence, it was just trash. He argued in his appeals that this evidence linking him to the crime, the bloody fingerprint,
37:40 Kylie Low? a supposed bullet hole in the bag, lead stains, and tiny fibers found on or in the paper bag, were all intentionally destroyed, lost, or altered, and so could not be retested. This claim that the evidence was destroyed with the intent of preventing further testing has not been proven, but it is true that evidence was destroyed during the process of testing. Later, Kenneth would argue ineffectiveness of counsel. His defense attorney later went on to become the district attorney for Hamden County. All of Kenneth's appeals have failed. According to reporting by Chris Weylander for the Daily Hampshire Gazette, friends, family, and community members continued to express their disbelief that Kenneth could
38:22 Kylie Low? have killed someone. They started petitions and gathered hundreds of signatures and tried to raise money for his continuing legal costs with an event that promised live music and alcohol, but permit applications were rejected because the group couldn't get law enforcement to agree to supervise the event. Still, his supporters held bake sales and dances, even sold handmade items at craft fairs and did whatever they could to support Kenneth, steadfast in their belief that he was railroaded and wrongfully convicted of a crime he did not commit. Kenneth Phoenix remains incarcerated at North Central Correctional Institute in Gardner, Massachusetts.
39:03 Kylie Low? For weeks while researching Raymond Green's case and writing this story, I also tried to find photos of him. Many pieces of press coverage I found showed photos of the convicted killer only, and it wasn't until the final hours of putting this story together that I got to see Ray's face. The Class of 1977 yearbook for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy has been digitized and uploaded to the Internet Archive at archive.org. On page 63 of "The Muster", as the yearbook is titled, there's a photo captioned "Smile: You're on Candid Camera." The photo is of Raymond Green with a wide grin, his eyes crinkling at the corners,
39:44 Kylie Low? clearly laughing at some unknown punchline, or smiling in surprise at the unexpected flash of a camera. There are a few more photos of Ray in the pages of the yearbook, including his formal portrait that includes a list of his extracurricular activities. It says that Ray, or Ronnie, as he may have been called at the academy, was on the varsity wrestling team. You can see all the photos of Raymond at darkdowneast.com and on Instagram at DarkDownEast.
40:12 Kylie Low? Raymond's brother, Reginald, spoke so highly of his brother. Ray was a role model, particularly for children of color. A man who came from nothing and got ahead and was bound to do more. Quote, "He spent all these years in education. He spent all these years in helping other people. He was just on the verge of getting himself together and somebody took that away from him. The guy never had a chance to get his feet on the ground." End quote.
40:50 Kylie Low? Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. You can find all source material for this case at darkdowneast.com. Be sure to follow the show on Instagram, at Dark Down East. This platform is for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones and for those who are still searching for answers. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Low and this is Dark Down East.
41:21 Kylie Low? Dark Down East is a production of Kylie Media and Audio Check. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?
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