Report: Double-Homicide Suspect Misled Court
CHARLOTTE (AP) - Court documents show that a Michigan man charged with killing a retired state police detective and his wife was on work release for a job that didn't exist at the time of the slayings.
Christopher Perrien, 38, told Eaton County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Eveland during a Sept. 1 sentencing for credit card theft that he had to report to work, the Lansing State Journal reported Wednesday. But it was a nonexistent company, according to the newspaper, which last week obtained transcripts of the hearing held in Charlotte, Mich.
Based on the false claim, Eveland allowed Perrien to be released from the Eaton County Jail from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Michael Greene, 62, and his wife, Terri, 46, were fatally shot Sept. 22 at their Delta Township home near Lansing.
Perrien was out of jail the afternoon of Sept. 22, officials have said. GPS data placed him at the crime scene, court documents show, and Perrien reported back to the jail that evening.
At the September sentencing, the court was given a letter dated Aug. 8, 2011, and written by a woman claiming to be the fake company's human resource manager. The letter claimed Perrien had worked for "Advanced Building Contractors Inc." as a "laborer/estimator" more than three years.
Perrien's attorney in the theft case, Lee Taylor, requested the work release. He later said he was misled.
"I guess I was duped into thinking (the job) was legitimate," Taylor told the newspaper. "Just like everyone else."
Perrien faces a preliminary examination Thursday on two counts of felony murder.
He was arrested Sept. 27 in Lansing on an unrelated charged and had his work release privileges revoked. In a letter to the judge dated Oct. 17, however, Perrien asked to have his work release reinstated.
Perrien was charged in the Greene killings in December. His lawyer in the murder case, Bill Weise, didn't immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment Wednesday.
Michael Greene retired in 1998 from the state police. Officials have said the home invasion that left the Greenes dead wasn't random but they haven't released specifics.
Investigators believe Perrien was using Michael Greene's credit cards and mobile phone, according to court documents. Also, Greene's handguns, state police identification and badges were found in a storage unit Perrien had rented, the documents said.
Eaton County Sheriff Mike Raines has instituted several changes to the work release program in light of the case, including requiring inmates to provide an original pay stub each pay period.
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