On June 23, 2023, Latrisha Greene (DOB: 10/1/1995) was convicted of four counts of Perjury in the First Degree, Class D Felonies, and two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, Class A Misdemeanors, in Schenectady County Court in front of Visiting Schenectady County Court Judge Chad W. Brown. Greene was acquitted of one of the five counts charging Perjury in the First Degree. Greene was convicted of testifying falsely on August 31, 2022, in the Schenectady County Family Court Abuse and Neglect trial of her and her husband, Daquan Greene. Greene testified falsely in Schenectady County Family Court in an effort to mislead the Court about her and her husband’s abuse of their foster children in an effort to reobtain custody of her biological children, who had previously been removed from her care by order of Schenectady County Family Court.
The first perjury conviction was for falsely testifying that she had not sent her husband a text message stating “no more bruises we need them to heal.” The second perjury conviction was for falsely testifying that she had not sent her husband a text message about him striking her one-year-old daughter so hard he left a handprint on her face. The third perjury conviction was for falsely testifying she was unaware her husband had caused bruising to a five-year-old foster child who had been placed in her and husband’s care. The fourth perjury conviction was for falsely testifying she was unaware her husband had caused bruising to a four-year-old foster child, Charles Garay, who had been placed in her and her husband’s care.
Greene was also convicted of two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, one for each of the foster children previously mentioned. The jury’s verdict reflects their finding that Greene both participated in and hid her and her husband’s abuse of the two children over the course of several months between September 25, 2020, and December 20, 2020, which ultimately ended with the death of four-year-old Charles Garay. The abuse involved cruel punishments including, but not limited to: forcing the boys to sit in wooden chairs for lengthy time periods and then dumping water on their faces if they fell asleep, punishing the boys for bed wetting with cold showers, requiring them to perform “wall sits” for extended periods of time, and beatings that left the boys covered in bruises. Greene hid her and her husband’s abuse of the children by falsely telling service providers she and her husband were in quarantine and a later representation that the children had fevers. These representations prevented social workers from seeing the boys in person for extended periods of time while placed in the Greene’s home.
Greene testified at the criminal trial over two days. While she, for the first time, now acknowledged sending the text messages at issue, she claimed she had forgotten about them during her prior testimony. She reaffirmed her denials of abusing the children or knowing her husband had caused bruising to them. The jury’s verdict reflects an outright rejection of that testimony.
The Family Court testimony for which she was convicted of Perjury occurred approximately three weeks before her husband’s trial for the murder of four-year-old Charles Garay began. Greene did not testify at that trial. Her husband was ultimately convicted of Murder and other charges. On December 6, 2022, Schenectady County Court Judge Matthew Sypniewski sentenced Daquan Greene to a term of 25 years to life incarceration on the murder conviction and other lesser sentences that by operation of law will be served concurrently to the 25 to life sentence.
The count for which Greene was acquitted related to her knowledge of bruising her husband had caused to her own one-year-old child.
After the verdict, Judge Brown remanded Greene pending sentencing proceedings. Sentencing is scheduled to occur on August 25, 2023, at 9:30 a.m. in Schenectady County Court. Greene faces maximum sentences of two-and-one-third (2 1/3) years to seven (7) years indeterminate for each conviction for Perjury in the First Degree. Greene faces maximum sentences of 364 days local incarceration for each of the conviction for Endangering the Welfare of a Child. The People will also seek a Full Stay Away Order of Protection for the surviving foster child for the maximum period allowed by law.
The case was investigated by the Rotterdam Police Department, Schenectady County Child Protective Services, the New York State Police Computer Forensic Laboratory and Schenectady District Attorney’s Office Investigators. The People are represented by Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Christina Tremante-Pelham and Assistant District Attorney Michael Nobles. Greene is represented by attorney Mark Juda.