Hearing set for Las Vegas man in belt-beating death of woman

By Dave Toplikar

Friday, Oct. 29, 2010 | 11:39 a.m.

A preliminary hearing will be held next month for a Las Vegas man charged in the beating death of a woman whose mother claims he was her pimp.

Marshall C. Greene, 31, has been charged in connection with the death of Alicia Lee, 20, who was found dead Oct. 8 in her apartment at Silverado Apartments, 3750 South Arville.

Greene, who is being held without bail in the Clark County Detention Center, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder with the use of a deadly weapon.

His preliminary hearing will be at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 29 before Judge Nancy C. Oesterle in Las Vegas Justice Court.

Lee's mother told police that her daughter was a prostitute and that Green was her pimp, according to an arrest report.

Metro Police said they received a call at 3:29 a.m. Oct. 8 from a man who identified himself as Mark Green, saying "something to the effect that he had an argument with his girlfriend, they got into it and she got hurt real bad and now he couldn't wake her up."

Officers said when they arrived at the apartment, they found the door closed, but unlocked, so they entered to do a welfare check based on information from the 911 call.

Police said they found the body of a woman wrapped in a bedspread in the the northeast bedroom of the apartment. Detectives found information in the apartment to identify Lee, who had scrapes and bruises on her face.

They took her body to the Clark County Coroner's Office to be examined.

Lee's mother told detectives that her daughter had been afraid to return to her apartment because she had been out gambling with a female acquaintance, who had taken $300 from her purse and that she knew Greene would be angry.

"The mother stated that Lee was a prostitute and that her 'boyfriend,' Marshall Greene, was her pimp who had beat her several times in the past and had broken her ankle in February (2010)," police said.

The autopsy showed that most of Lee's body was covered with cuts and bruises, which were mostly two linear marks connected with a curved end, indicative of being made by something folded in half and the looped end being used to strike the victim, police said.

Lee's death was attributed to multiple blunt force injuries and secondary asphyxiation, police said.

Police said at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9, Greene walked into the Clark County Detention Center and told a corrections officer that he was a suspect in a murder and needed to talk to homicide detectives. Greene told them that he had surrendered so he could explain what happened.

Greene told police that Lee had lost money, but he said it was $400, not $300, and insisted that the fight between the two of them was not over the money.

He told police that Lee was angry at him because she had found out that another girl had performed a sex act on him and that he and Lee had argued on the phone.

Greene told police he had packed his bags to move out of the apartment, but fell asleep on the living room couch. Greene said Lee came home extremely drunk about 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8.

They argued and he "lost it," beating her numerous times with a black leather belt, Greene told police. Officers said Greene told them he had folded over the belt and struck her with the edge, not the flat part of the belt. Greene said the beating lasted about 30 minutes.

Greene said he then he fell asleep sometime after the sun went down, but before it got dark, and that Lee was laying on the floor beside him, police said.

Greene said he woke up sometime between 1:45 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. and found Lee unresponsive. He told police he tried to perform CPR, but got no response. Greene said he wrapped her in the blanket they had been laying on and then left the apartment to call police, officers said.

Greene later admitted he had identified himself as Mark Green when he made the 911 call, detectives said.