Prosecutor: Woman and her lover plotted husband's vicious murder while living in his house

Court TV ^ | 9/26/6 | Emanuella Grinberg

[SmithL]

When Martha Freeman moved back into the home of her estranged husband in February 2005, she didn't return home alone.

Instead, she secretly brought Rafael Rocha-Perez, her lover and the man who would ultimately kill her husband with her assistance, a Nashville prosecutor said in the pair's murder trial Tuesday.

"The evidence will show you she had Mr. Perez there secluded away in another bedroom," Davidson County prosecutor Katy Miller told jurors in her opening statement. "It took two people to orchestrate this, and it will be clearly shown that those two people were Martha Freeman and Mr. Rocha-Perez."

Miller promised the panel that DNA and fingerprint evidence would prove that no one but the defendants could have brutally beaten and strangled Jeffrey Freeman in the Freemans' upscale south Nashville home.

She also said other evidence, including clothing, food and a Spanish-English dictionary that were found in a spare bedroom, would also prove that Rocha-Perez stayed in the home.

If convicted of first-degree murder, both defendants face life in prison.

Although Martha Freeman's lawyer acknowledged that she kept her lover hidden in a closet, he denied that she encouraged or participated in the violent death of her husband of 10 years.

"Two men fought over one woman, and one man died," defense lawyer Glenn Funk said in his opening statement Tuesday. "We will not hear any evidence. We will not hear from any witnesses who will testify that Martha Freeman ever intended for her affair with Mr. Rocha-Perez to lead to her husband's death."

Funk conceded that his client kept her husband's dead body in the upstairs bathroom for almost a day before notifying police, but he insisted that her decision to do so showed a lack of involvement.

"She did not hide the body, she did not flee, she did not help Rocha-Pere z flee," Funk told jurors. "She does in fact delay making her own decision, but she never does anything to assist Mr. Rocha-Perez."

A lawyer for Rocha-Perez also acknowledged the bizarre living situation, but denied that his client was responsible for Jeffrey Freeman's death.

Instead, he suggested that Martha Freeman might have set up his client for the gruesome murder.

"Maybe she needed a chump," said defense lawyer Peter Strianse as both defendants sat emotionless at the same table, separated by a lawyer. "Who better to blame it on than somebody who is here illegally, somebody who is truly a stranger in a strange land, someone, who, by virtue of his immigration status, once arrested, is not going to get out of jail?"

The state will call its first witness Tuesday afternoon. The trial is expected to last three days.

[SmithL]

Not excerpt-able, but here's more from the Nashville Tennessean:

'Closet' jury pool asked, can you judge an illegal fairly?

Defense satisfied that it weeded out bias
By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer

Rafael DeJesus Rocha-Perez

Martha Freeman

[jocon307]

Why are these two being tried together, when each one's defense is to point the finger at the other?

[Inge_CAV]

"Defense satisfied that it weeded out bias"

Women are not allowed to attend a stoning! Are there any women in this crowd?

Crowd: Noooooo, no women here!