Debora Green

Debora Green

Debora J. Green is an American physician who pleaded no contest to setting a 1995 fire which burned down her family’s home and killed two of her children. She also admitted to poisoning her husband with ricin with the intention of causing his death. Green has petitioned for a new trial twice in recent years, but her requests have not been successful. She is currently serving a sentence of 40 years.

About Debora Green in brief

Summary Debora GreenDebora J. Green is an American physician who pleaded no contest to setting a 1995 fire which burned down her family’s home and killed two of her children. She also admitted to poisoning her husband with ricin with the intention of causing his death. The case was sensational, and covered heavily by news media, especially in the Kansas–Missouri area, where the crimes occurred. Green has petitioned for a new trial twice in recent years, but her requests have not been successful. Green was the second of two daughters to Joan and Bob Jones of Havana, Illinois. She showed early intellectual promise, and is reported to have taught herself to read and write before she was three years old. She attended the University of Kansas School of Medicine from 1972 to her graduation in 1975. Green chose emergency medicine as her initial specialty and undertook a residency in the Truman Medical Center Emergency Room after her graduation from medical school. She married Michael Farrar in 1979 while practicing as an emergency physician. The couple had three children, Timothy, Kelly, and Kate. In 1996, Green was sentenced to two concurrent forty-year prison sentences. She is currently serving a sentence of 40 years for the arson and attempted murder of her husband and two counts of attempted first-degree murder for the attempted arson of her two children. Green also served a six-week maternity leave in 1982, after giving birth to her first child on January 20, 1982, but returned to work six weeks later. She has since worked as a physician in Cincinnati, Ohio, and has been married to her husband for more than 30 years.

She currently lives in Cincinnati with her husband. She was married to Michael F Garrar until he filed for divorce in July 1995. In August and September 1995, Green repeatedly fell violently ill, and despite numerous hospitalizations his doctors could not pinpoint the source of his illness. Green’s emotional stability deteriorated and she began to drink heavily, even while supervising her kids. Investigation showed that trails of accelerant in the house led back to Green’s bedroom, and that the cause of the illness had been ricin, a poison served to him in his food by Green. Green maintained her innocence throughout pre-trial motions and a show cause hearing. However, when the defense’s own investigators verified the strength of forensic evidence against Green, she agreed to an Alford plea to all charges. Green cited basic incompatibility as the reason for the divorce, but the divorce was friendly. In contrast, Green felt that Farrars’ presence was a stable, dependable presence. Green went into practice at University of Cincinnati Hospital as an internal medicine physician, but grew dissatisfied and eventually switched specialties to internal medicine. By the early 1980s, Green suffered a number of medical issues, including an infected wrist surgery on an infected cerebellar, migraines, and insomnia, and eventually began a second residency in internal medicine, joining the FarrARS’ program in Cincinnati. In May 1982, Green returned to her residency.