bloodrayne
11-21-2004, 10:00 PM
Ex-Crematory Operator Pleads Guilty To Dumping Bodies
LaFayette — Former crematory operator Ray Brent Marsh pleaded guilty Friday to dumping 334 bodies and giving the families of the deceased cement dust instead of ashes.
Marsh entered the pleas to 787 counts against him, including theft, abuse of a corpse, burial service fraud and making false statements.
‘‘The answers that many of you have come here today to hear I cannot give you,’’ Marsh told the family members in the courtroom. ‘‘Not for a lack of desire to give those answers, but the lack of the answer. To those individuals who were genuinely harmed emotionally as a result of my actions, I apologize.’’
In exchange for the guilty pleas, he is expected to receive a sentence that requires him to serve no more than 12 years in prison. The prison term will be followed by a lengthy probation that could last the rest of the 31-year-old’s life.
As part of the deal, Marsh is expected to be fined $20,000 and will not be allowed to profit from the case.
He also will write letters of apology to the victims’ families and the community.
A sentencing hearing will be held Jan. 31 and could last several days to allow for the victims’ families to testify.
Marsh allegedly stopped performing cremations at the Tri-State Crematory in Noble in 1997, when he took over the family business that served funeral homes in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.
After an anonymous tip in February 2002, investigators found bodies scattered on the crematory property — in the woods, in buildings and crammed into burial vaults and behind Marsh’s house.
Teri Crawford’s brother was supposed to have been cremated at Tri-State in 2001 after he died of cancer. She said Marsh’s apology disappointed her.
‘‘It was halfhearted and it was more to his family than to the rest of us,’’ she said after the hearing. ‘‘He has a sentence of 12 years. I will be tormented for the rest of my life wondering what happened to my brother.’’
Judge James Bodiford said he will wait to officially accept the plea deal until after the sentencing hearing.
‘‘I will keep an open mind,’’ Bodiford said.
Security at the hearing was tight, but much less visible than at earlier hearings when, at least once, snipers were posted on nearby roofs. Police officers in street clothes surrounded Marsh — who has received numerous death threats — during the hearing. Afterward, they escorted him through a throng of victims’ relatives to an awaiting car.
Last month, a federal judge approved an $80 million settlement of a lawsuit by victims’ relatives against Marsh. It’s unclear how much of that money will be paid. In March, several dozen funeral homes that sent corpses to the crematory settled a class-action lawsuit against them for roughly $36 million. Much of that money has been paid.
After Friday’s hearing, defense attorney McCracken Poston said he could offer little insight into Marsh’s motives.
‘‘Some things are perhaps beyond explanation,’’ he said.
But that also wasn’t satisfactory for Rusty Cash, 33, from East Ridge, Tenn., whose mother-in-law Norma Jean Hutton was supposed to be cremated.
‘‘He don’t have a clue what he put my wife through,’’ he said. ‘‘All we want to know is why.’
LaFayette — Former crematory operator Ray Brent Marsh pleaded guilty Friday to dumping 334 bodies and giving the families of the deceased cement dust instead of ashes.
Marsh entered the pleas to 787 counts against him, including theft, abuse of a corpse, burial service fraud and making false statements.
‘‘The answers that many of you have come here today to hear I cannot give you,’’ Marsh told the family members in the courtroom. ‘‘Not for a lack of desire to give those answers, but the lack of the answer. To those individuals who were genuinely harmed emotionally as a result of my actions, I apologize.’’
In exchange for the guilty pleas, he is expected to receive a sentence that requires him to serve no more than 12 years in prison. The prison term will be followed by a lengthy probation that could last the rest of the 31-year-old’s life.
As part of the deal, Marsh is expected to be fined $20,000 and will not be allowed to profit from the case.
He also will write letters of apology to the victims’ families and the community.
A sentencing hearing will be held Jan. 31 and could last several days to allow for the victims’ families to testify.
Marsh allegedly stopped performing cremations at the Tri-State Crematory in Noble in 1997, when he took over the family business that served funeral homes in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.
After an anonymous tip in February 2002, investigators found bodies scattered on the crematory property — in the woods, in buildings and crammed into burial vaults and behind Marsh’s house.
Teri Crawford’s brother was supposed to have been cremated at Tri-State in 2001 after he died of cancer. She said Marsh’s apology disappointed her.
‘‘It was halfhearted and it was more to his family than to the rest of us,’’ she said after the hearing. ‘‘He has a sentence of 12 years. I will be tormented for the rest of my life wondering what happened to my brother.’’
Judge James Bodiford said he will wait to officially accept the plea deal until after the sentencing hearing.
‘‘I will keep an open mind,’’ Bodiford said.
Security at the hearing was tight, but much less visible than at earlier hearings when, at least once, snipers were posted on nearby roofs. Police officers in street clothes surrounded Marsh — who has received numerous death threats — during the hearing. Afterward, they escorted him through a throng of victims’ relatives to an awaiting car.
Last month, a federal judge approved an $80 million settlement of a lawsuit by victims’ relatives against Marsh. It’s unclear how much of that money will be paid. In March, several dozen funeral homes that sent corpses to the crematory settled a class-action lawsuit against them for roughly $36 million. Much of that money has been paid.
After Friday’s hearing, defense attorney McCracken Poston said he could offer little insight into Marsh’s motives.
‘‘Some things are perhaps beyond explanation,’’ he said.
But that also wasn’t satisfactory for Rusty Cash, 33, from East Ridge, Tenn., whose mother-in-law Norma Jean Hutton was supposed to be cremated.
‘‘He don’t have a clue what he put my wife through,’’ he said. ‘‘All we want to know is why.’