Bond revoked, murder suspect back in jail

A Franklin County man out on bond for murder charges will be spending time in jail after having his bond revoked at a hearing on Thursday for incurring new charges.

Jason Dewayne Green, 35, 325 Oak Hills Drive, Russellville, was charged with driving under the influence and two counts of receiving stolen property on Tuesday, officials said.

Green, who was officially charged with murder for the shooting death of his girlfriend, Shay Nicole Ledlow, on Jan. 30, has been out on a $400,000 bond since April.

According to witness testimony at the bond revocation hearing, Jason Green and his father, Travis Green, have been under investigation by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office for potentially unlawful practices at Green’s business, Franklin County Recycling.

Inv. Jason Holcomb said the sheriff’s office had received numerous complaints concerning Franklin County Recycling and the sheriff’s office was in the middle of an ongoing investigation of a stolen wrecker that was reported to be at the salvage yard.

Testimony showed that Dep. Ryan Zedrow went to Franklin County Recycling on Sept. 2 to inquire about the stolen wrecker from Daleville but was told they didn’t have a wrecker on the property.

Holcomb said they received a second call from the Daleville Police Department on Tuesday stating the vehicle was on the property so Dep. Nathan Weeks, who used to own a wrecker business, was sent to the business to look for the vehicle.

Weeks found the wrecker at the back of the lot and matched the wrecker’s vehicle identification number to the VIN of the stolen wrecker.

Weeks informed investigators the stolen wrecker had been located and went inside the business to speak to Jason Green but was informed that he was not there but would be back shortly, so Weeks waited for him to return.

“I witnessed Jason Green driving down [Franklin] 77 and pull off the road,” Weeks said. “When he got out of the jeep and walked up to me, I could smell a strong odor of alcohol on his person and observed he had bloodshot eyes and slurred his speech while talking.”

Weeks said Green proceeded to walk into the building where he spoke with investigators who had arrived to question him about the stolen vehicle at his business.

During questioning, it was discovered that the bed from the stolen wrecker had been taken off and placed on a vehicle owned by Franklin County Recycling.

After questioning by investigators, Jason Green was arrested on two counts of receiving stolen property for the Daleville wrecker and for a freightliner that investigators also found on the property that had been reported stolen from Marion County.

Once Jason Green had been arrested on the receiving stolen property charges, Weeks performed field sobriety tests on him based on the smell of alcohol on his person and his slurred speech. Weeks said that Jason Green admitted to drinking the night before but not the day of the arrest. However, Weeks did say that Jason Green admitted taking lorcets that morning that he had a prescription for.

Weeks said Jason Green was unable to successfully complete the field sobriety tests so he was charged with DUI. Jason Green said he could not complete the tests because he was nervous.

Defense attorney Billy Underwood said the motion to revoke his client’s bond should be dismissed because he claimed there was no real proof that Green was under the influence.

Underwood pointed out a breath test had not been performed on Jason Green when he was taken to the Franklin County Jail. He had only received a blood test.

Underwood said there was no way for Weeks to tell that Green was under the influence of alcohol or drugs except for the fact that Weeks smelled the alcohol and Jason Green supposedly admitted to taking lorcets.

Jason Green’s blood work had not come back at the time of the hearing.

Underwood also claimed the receiving stolen property charges were invalid because Jason Green did not purchase the stolen vehicles. Witness testimony from Travis Green showed that he had been the one to purchase the wrecker from Daleville.

Travis Green also said the reason Zedrow was told on Sept. 2 that there wasn’t a wrecker on the property is because the vehicle in question was actually called a roll back and was completely different from a wrecker.

Even though Travis Green admitted to purchasing the stolen wrecker from Daleville, District Attorney Joey Rushing said the charges were still valid.

“The wrecker was purchased through Franklin County Recycling, which is Jason’s business,” Rushing said. “The receipt was on Franklin County Recycling paper.”

At the end of the hearing, District Judge Paula McDowell ruled there was enough probable cause on the DUI charge and the receiving stolen property charge concerning the Daleville wrecker to revoke Jason Green’s bond.

He will be remanded to the Franklin County Jail until the murder charge and the receiving stolen property charge have been through grand jury.

McDowell said she would revisit the issue of Jason Green’s bond if both cases had not been considered by the end of the November grand jury session.

This investigation is still ongoing and could potentially yield several felony cases and over a hundred misdemeanor charges.

Holcomb said there are certain regulations salvage yards must follow and Jason and Travis Green had both been warned several times about accepting vehicles without a title or without proper identification.