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Mom Denies Guilt in Crematory Case PDF Print E-mail
Written by DeadGirl   
Saturday, 03 June 2006
Web Editor:  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
6/2/2006

Four years after the Tri-State Crematory case began, the 73-year-old mother of former operator Ray Brent Marsh was in court to plead not guilty to criminal charges of her own. Clara Marsh and her daughter LaShea Marsh are charged with signing death certificates even though, at the time, they were not licensed funeral home directors.
"I feel these ladies will be vindicated, either pretrial or at trial or on appeal," says attorney McCracken Poston.

In 2002, Tri-State Crematory made national headlines when authorities discovered more than 300 bodies scattered around the property. The bodies were supposed to be cremated. Operator Ray Brent Marsh was arrested and eventually pleaded guilty, and is now serving a 12-year prison sentence.

Authorities say during the investigation, they found death certificates that were improperly signed by Marsh's mother and sister.

"It's not like a mystery," says Walker County prosecutor Chris Arnt. "It's not a hanging chad. There's a box that says funeral director and that's where they signed."

But the women's lawyer says he has affidavits from state and local officials who say they knew employees of Tri-State were signing death certificates even though none of them were licensed funeral home directors. A former supervisor with the state Department of Vital Records wrote that it "wasn't a great controversy."

But prosecutors say that doesn't clear Clara Marsh or her sister.

"The fact that someone commonly violates the law doesn't excuse it," says Arnt.

Poston also claims that the charges violate the state's four-year statute of limitations. Prosecutors say they didn't discover the evidence until 2002.

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=80575
 
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