| Sources |
- [S84] E-Mail, Tammy J. Shults [tjshults@comcast.net], 17 Mar 2007.
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 31 Oct 2012.
Caretaker’s murder trial opens
by JEFF FARRELL
SEVIERVILLE — A Sevier County jury is being asked to determine whether a 78-year-old woman with terminal cancer died as a result of her disease or other natural causes, or whether a caretaker intentionally gave her a fatal dose of narcotics right after the dying woman named her as a beneficiary in her will.
Elizabeth Ogle is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Betty Faye Webb Rice, who died in November 2009. Her trial began Tuesday.
The trial in Sevier County Circuit Court appears set to hinge on whether the jury believes medical examiner Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan’s reasoning for finding that Rice died due to the drugs in her system, or instead believes experts called by the defense who are expected to argue that science does not support that finding.
Assistant district attorneys Jeremy Ball and Ron Newcomb are trying to prove Ogle gave Rice what Newcomb called a “liver full of morphine” right after the will was altered.
Rice had just been diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread through her body, and hospital records indicate Ogle had been taking her to the emergency room for treatment for pain until doctors finally found the disease.
Ogle had been married to Rice’s nephew, and the two had remained close, defense attorney Charles Poole said. He told the jury he would seek to prove Rice wasn’t murdered at all.
“The opinion of Dr. Mileusnic, to put it in one simple word, is wrong,” Poole told the jury during his opening statement.
He said his expert witnesses will indicate, among other things, that the liver of a person who has been embalmed cannot be used to determine the amount of narcotics present in the person’s system at the time of their death.
He also noted Rice was not with Ogle when she stopped breathing, but she rushed back to the house when her son told her what was happening.
When emergency responders arrived, Poole said, they found Ogle giving Rice CPR despite the fact Rice had severe pneumonia and Ogle was drawing the discharge from Rice’s lungs into her own mouth while trying to resuscitate the woman.
Rice’s death was not immediately investigated as a homicide, and her remains had been embalmed and interred before relatives told investigators with the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office that they believed her death was suspicious.
Poole maintains some of those relatives were actually motivated by a desire to get a portion of that estate themselves after learning about the change in Rice’s will.
“Some people are upset they didn’t get a share of Betty’s estate,” he said.
Rice’s estate consisted of the double-wide mobile home where she lived, some accounts worth about $60,000, and certificates of deposit worth another $220,000.
However, the certificates of deposit named James Griffin, the illegitimate son of Rice’s deceased husband, as the beneficiary. Griffin said that he and his father, Cliff Webb, never met until Griffin was 40 years old. However, Griffin and Rice “both accepted me and treated me as a son,” he said.
Griffin, who lives in Georgia, was called Tuesday as a witness for the prosecution. He confirmed he has obtained the $220,000 that Rice and Webb had left for him after Rice died.
Rice’s niece, Maurice Noe, told the jury she had talked to Rice on the phone in the days before Rice’s death and had actually been on her way to visit Rice the day she died.
Detective John Brown, who has since moved from the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office to the Maryville Police Department, said he started the investigation after Rice’s relatives informed him of their suspicions.
He charged Ogle with the crime after seeing the autopsy results indicating Rice died from an overdose.
Ogle had indicated she was the only person who had access to the morphine, although she maintained she had only given Rice the minimum dose of the drug, he said.
The trial started Tuesday afternoon after the jury was seated in the morning. It is expected to last several days. Judge Rex Henry Ogle (no relation to the defendant) is presiding.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 1 Nov 2012.
Prosecution rests in murder trial
by JEFF FARRELL
SEVIERVILLE — The prosecution wrapped up its case against accused murderer Elizabeth Ogle Wednesday by calling medical examiner Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan to explain how she concluded the alleged victim, Betty Rice died of an overdose of morphine.
Ogle, who at one time was married to Rice’s nephew and had a child from that marriage, was acting as caretaker for Rice when Rice died in November of 2009. Rice’s death came just days after doctors discovered she had terminal cancer and she was placed in hospice care, but also shortly after her will was changed to make Ogle the beneficiary.
Prosecutors believe Ogle gave Rice a lethal dose of morphine and other drugs after getting Rice to change the will; defense attorney Charles Poole has indicated he will try to use testimony from other experts to show Mileusnic erred in determining the cause of death.
With the case appearing set to become a duel between experts called by each side, Mileusnic made sure to get in her shots at the opposition Wednesday.
“I thought (it) was silly,” she said, after looking at an analysis generated by the defense that suggested Rice’s liver would have decreased in size after her death, embalming and burial, and that would have skewed the concentration of morphine in her system.
“That’s absolutely ridiculous to suggest, but I forgive him, he’s a pharmacist, not a physician.”
While Rice had terminal cancer that had destroyed one lung and spread through her body, Mileusnic said it hadn’t reached the point that it would have been fatal, and neither were any of her other afflictions, including heart disease.
Even taken together, she said, they would not have been fatal and wouldn’t have presented the symptoms listed in Rice’s final visit to the emergency room.
Poole jousted with her over whether she could use a sample from Rice’s liver to get an accurate reading on the amount of morphine and other drugs in her system three months after she was embalmed and buried, and whether the amount discovered was consistent with the amounts prescribed to Rice.
She said it was possible to use a sample from the liver, although she acknowledged blood samples would have been preferable, and she was adamant that the amount found in Rice's system was much higher than the prescribed dose.
She acknowledged, however, that she coudln't tell the jury who administered the drugs.
"I'm not here to tell you who gave it to her or if she took it herself," she said.
While no prosecution witness testified they saw Ogle giving morphine to Rice, Detective John Brown told the jury Tuesday that Ogle had told him she was the only one who gave Rice the drug and a hospice nurse said Ogle was with Rice when she explained how to administer it.
Before Mileusnic took the stand, a handwriting analyst from the FBI testified that the signature on the final will signed by Rice was inconsistent with the way she signed her name on several greeting cards provided by family, but he could not say with certainty that Rice didn’t sign the will.
Several of Rice’s relatives testified Wednesday morning that they hadn’t learned about her death until the day of the funeral, and were puzzled as to why they weren’t contacted about it. Several also said they hadn’t learned she had cancer until that day; her diagnosis had come the previous week.
Pamela McMillan, a great-niece of Rice’s said, she called the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office and asked them to start an investigation after learning about the change in the will, hearing that Ogle had already inquired about how to probate the estate, and finding out Ogle had worked with the notary public used in the new will.
Rice’s estate consisted of accounts totaling $60,000, the double-wide trailer where she lived, and certificates of deposit she and her deceased husband had set aside for his son from a previous relationship, worth $220,000.
While her stepson was excluded from the will, he collected the $220,000 in 2010.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 2 Nov 2012.
Ogle set free on judge's directed verdict of acquittal
SEVIERVILLE — Circuit Judge Rex Ogle issued a directed verdict Friday in favor of defendant Elizabeth Ogle, setting her free in the middle of her trial and while she was testifying.
The judge called the lawyers for both sides into his chambers while Ogle was testifying. When all emerged, he issued his directed verdict of acquittal, which means in his judgment the state had not proved its case as a matter of law.
Ogle was charged with killing Betty Rice, an elderly woman in Ogle's care.
Ogle was represented by attorney Charles Poole.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 2 Nov 2012.
Medical experts differ in opinions on cause of death in murder trial
by Jeff Farrell
SEVIERVILLE — Defense attorney Charles Poole called a battery of medical experts to the stand Thursday in his effort to show alleged murder victim Betty Rice could have died for reasons other than an overdose of drugs.
The first-degree murder case against Elizabeth Ogle hinges on whether the state can convince a jury Rice died from the overdose and not from her terminal cancer or other health conditions. The prosecution is arguing Ogle, who had been acting as Rice’s caregiver, gave Rice the overdose of morphine and other drugs after becoming the beneficiary of Rice’s will so she could take the woman’s estate.
A pharmacologist, a cardiac toxicologist and a medical examiner all gave reasons they thought the conclusion of Medical Examiner Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan was not scientifically sound.
All three of them agreed that Mileusnic-Polchan erred when she used samples taken from Rice’s liver to try to determine whether Rice had overdosed on the drugs. That sample can be used to determine whether drugs were present in her system, but not for determining how much she had recently taken and whether it would have killed her, they said.
Rice had been embalmed and was interred for three months before the autopsy was performed, meaning no blood samples were available for Mileusnic to use. In her testimony earlier this week, she said there is a scientific basis for using the concentration of morphine in Rice’s liver to determine whether Rice had too much of morphine and several other drugs in her system.
The defense experts agreed Mileusnic-Polchan performed a near prefect autopsy in terms of how she collected her data; they just disagreed with the conclusion she reached from that data.
“When you get a tissue sample, all you can tell is a drug was there,” pharmacologist Glenn Farr said.
Steven Karch, who described himself as a cardiac toxicologist, said he had flown in from San Francisco at his own expense and was testifying for free because he felt so strongly that Mileusnic-Polchan’s interpretation of the data was improper. “I felt an obligation to put the record straight,” he said.
He doesn’t believe a liver sample can be used to make the assessment because scientists have not collected enough data on the level of morphine in the liver of a living person to make that determination, he said.
After reviewing Mileusnic-Polchan’s report, he said he believed the most likely cause of death was heart failure. The report indicated Rice was suffering heart disease, but Mileusnic-Polchan testified that she didn’t believe Rice’s heart had deteriorated to the point it couldn’t function and that she didn’t believe the cancer had reached the point that it would have been fatal, either.
Gregory Davis, who is a medical examiner with the state of Kentucky, said he “respectfully but vehemently disagreed” with Mileusnic-Polchan’s conclusion.
He said his own review of her report led him to believe that Ogle died from complications due to her cancer, which had spread throughout her body by the time doctors found it just days before she died. Her heart condition could have also killed her, he said, or the two combined could have done it — but there was not enough evidence in Mileusnic-Polchan’s report to conclude the drugs in her system caused her death.
He acknowledged, however, that in her weakened state drugs could have caused her to die. He just maintained there wasn’t enough evidence to conclude that’s what happened.
All three agreed Rice would have been able to take the drugs herself without assistance if she decided to.
Prosecutors noted Mileusnic-Polchan was the only person who actually was present for the exhumation or preformed an autopsy on Rice’s remains; all three defense experts relied on notes, samples and pictures she took to reach their conclusions.
Also during Thursday’s testimony, the jury heard a recording of the 911 call that Ogle’s son and one of his friends made when Rice stopped breathing. With a dispatcher’s help they performed CPR and Ogle performed CPR as well after she returned to the house, stopping when emergency responders arrived.
A Sevier County paramedic said that he realized when he entered the room that Rice had started to vomit while they were performing CPR, which he said was not uncommon. While Rice was resuscitated at her home, she died a short time later.
Ogle’s son, his fiancee and a friend who had been staying at the house with them while they cared for Rice said Rice was a close friend of the family. Ogle was married to Rice’s nephew at one time, and the couple had one son, Joshua, during that marriage. Ogle and her family had remained close to Rice ever since, they said.
All three indicated Rice had asked them to change her will. Ogle’s son, Josh, and his fiancee told the jury Rice had said she wanted them to have her house because they were about to have a child.
The case may go to the jury on Friday.
n jfarrell@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 3 Nov 2012.
Judge's directed verdict frees Elizabeth Ogle from murder charge
by Jeff Farrell
SEVIERVILLE — After hearing the complete case from the prosecution and the defense, Judge Rex Henry Ogle said there was no need to send the first-degree murder case against Elizabeth Ogle on to the jury.
In a rare directed verdict, the judge found the accused caregiver (who is unrelated to him) not guilty on all counts.
By Friday afternoon, Elizabeth Ogle was out of the Sevier County Jail and a free woman for the first time since her arrest in 2010. She was accused of killing Betty Rice — the woman she called “Aunt Butterfly” — by giving her an overdose of morphine and other drugs.
Rice had just discovered she was suffering terminal cancer, and Ogle had been acting as her caregiver, but some of Rice’s relatives contacted the sheriff’s office after becoming concerned when what seemed from their perspective to be a sudden decline by Rice, and then learning Rice had altered her will to make Elizabeth Ogle the beneficiary.
Judge Ogle said that, after hearing the presentations from both sides, he felt compelled to enter the verdict.
“No judge lightly dismisses a first-degree murder case, but the court has to take into consideration what evidence is there and how does it address the issues that have to be decided by the judge and jury,” Ogle said.
“In order to convict the defendant under the evidence in front of us, each of us would have to make an assumption of a lot of facts that are not in the record in this case,” he said as he explained his reasoning to the jury.
The judge noted several witnesses had testified that Rice’s medicine was located on a night stand right beside her bed, and that she could have taken it herself without telling anyone.
“Even Dr. (Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan) said the deceased was alert and could do things on her own to some extent,” he said. “It is uncontradicted that the medicines that were being taken by the deceased were located next to her bed,” he said, referring to the medical examiner.
It was Mileusnic who used a sample of tissue from Rice’s liver to determine that Rice had died from an overdose of morphine and other drugs. She was one of the primary witnesses for the prosecution; several experts called by the defense testified there was no scientific basis for using a sample from a person’s liver to determine whether they had consumed enough drugs to bring about death.
The defense experts said the sample could be used to confirm the presence of the drugs, but not to determine how much of the drugs were present or whether it would have caused a person’s death.
Judge Ogle said he was concerned that the jury would consider, in a negative light, testimony about Ogle using Rice’s accounts to pay some of Rice’s bills. The prosecution argued her motive in killing Rice was to take over her accounts.
Judge Ogle noted that, outside of letting her son stay in Rice’s house — something he and other witnesses said had been Rice’s intent — Elizabeth Ogle never used Rice’s money for herself.
“This defendant took nothing under the will,” the judge said.
He noted Rice had gone with the defendant to a local bank at one point in the days before her death to give Elizabeth Ogle power of attorney for health care matters, and the bank official who acted as notary in that case had testified that he checked with Rice outside Ogle’s presence to make sure Rice understood what she was doing and wasn’t being coerced. The bank official said he did that as a matter of course with anyone in that situation.
Elizabeth Ogle had gone to the county courthouse the day after Rice’s death to ask about how to proceed as executor of her estate, the judge said, but that in itself was not unusual for a person with no background in handling an estate.
Elizabeth Ogle took the stand for most of the morning before the judge issued his decision. She was still on the stand when the judge called attorneys into his office; defense attorney Charles Poole had noted he had some questions for his client after prosecutor Ron Newcomb completed cross examination and Poole had asked to break for lunch before she continued her testimony.
But when they returned from the private conference, Poole announced he had completed his case and asked again for a directed verdict. Prosecutor Ron Newcomb argued that, if the jury believed Mileusnic’s defense of her methods, there was enough evidence for the jury to reach a guilty verdict.
During the earlier testimony, Elizabeth Ogle wept as she spoke of the death of the woman she and her family called “Aunt Butterfly.” That nickname arose, she said, because her youngest son couldn’t pronounced Rice’s first name, Betty, and started calling her Butterfly.
Elizabeth Ogle had been married to Rice’s nephew, and the two remained close even after the marriage ended.
During Friday’s proceedings, she and another witness reviewed pictures of Rice at outings with her family, including a wedding, a trip to Myrtle Beach and a birthday party.
She said there was no way she would have killed Rice.
“I’d never hurt her, I loved her,” she said.
n jfarrell@themountainpress.com
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Groom's Name Bride's First Name Bride's Maiden Name County Date of Marriage File #
OGLE GARY B ELIZABETH [NOT GIVEN] SEVIER 08-01-1987 37925
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