JUDGE GRANTS $300,000 BOND FOR GREEN

PERRY - Bond was set at $300,000 Thursday for a Perry physician accused of
felony murder in the death of six patients.

Senior Judge L.A. "Buster" McConnell set the bond after a 90-minute hearing
earlier in the day in Houston County Superior Court.

Dr. Spurgeon Green, 65, a certified pain specialist, is accused of
prescribing various pain medications to the six people without a legitimate
medical purpose, resulting in their deaths. Felony murder occurs when
someone dies in the commission of another felony.

Green, who turned himself in Monday to the Houston County jail, was
indicted July 13 by a Houston County grand jury on six felony murder
charges, including the death of a Jesup man.

Green, who also faces a felony murder charge in Wayne County for the Jesup
man's death, was free on $250,000 property bond in that case. The $300,000
bond in Houston County is expected to be placed on a piece of property in
Macon valued at more than $300,000, said Houston County District Attorney
Kelly Burke.

Green is expected to post the bond today, said O. Hale Almand Jr., a Macon
attorney representing Green. The physician was being held Thursday in the
Houston County jail.

During the bond hearing, Almand said he expected the Wayne County charge to
be dismissed on a change of venue motion. Burke told the judge the case
will be transferred to Houston County for trial.

After the hearing, Burke said Green will be tried on the felony murder
charge in Houston County for the death of David Barbari, 40, of Jesup. Once
the case is transferred, the $250,000 Wayne County bond will be dropped,
said Burke.

During the hearing, defense attorneys presented a parade of character
witnesses in support of Green, including a Warner Robins City Council
member, a Peach County school board member and two pastors.

Prosecutors argued that Green has access to at least $500,000 in cash and
might flee trial, that there are more deaths connected to Green than what's
been publicly disclosed in the Houston County indictment, and that Green's
patients came to his Perry office from across the South.

Burke told the judge that the other deaths will either be used in trial as
similar transactions - they may be used as evidence without any formal
charges against Green - or Green may face additional indictments in Houston
County.

Dorothy Marie Green, the defendant's wife, said her husband would not flee
to avoid prosecution. "(He) wants to stay here and clear his name," she said.

She also testified that of the $800,000 in cash, cashier's checks, money
orders and bonds seized by Houston County sheriff's investigators during a
raid last year of their home, about $500,000 had been returned.

Burke said easy access to cash makes Green a flight risk. But Almand
characterized the state's argument as a "red herring." Almand argued that
Green has not been able to practice medicine for about a year but still
must support a wife and two grandchildren the Greens have adopted.

Almand said the state had not been able to prove that Green is a flight
risk, is a danger to anyone, will intimidate witnesses or commit another
felony. He told the judge that the state had to prove at least one of those
four conditions in order for bond to be denied.

Warner Robins City Councilman Grady Clemonts testified that Green has been
his family physician and friend for two decades. He said Green is honest
and caring.

"He's not just my doctor, your honor," Clemonts said. "He's my friend. He's
my brother in the Lord."

The Rev. James F. Sherman of Macon, who is pastor of a church in Dublin
where Green and his family attend, said Green is "a people person - one
that can get along with anybody. To know him is to care for him."

But Burke asked Sherman if it is true that some people live one way when at
church and another way when away from church. Sherman said he didn't judge,
but that word would get back to him if someone in his congregation was
living that way.

Evangeline Carson, a Peach County Board of Education member who has known
Green for 16 years, said he has a good reputation in the community and
wouldn't flee. "He's a God-fearing person as well. I think he'll do the
right thing."

Anne Staham of Fort Valley described Green as a caring and compassionate
doctor who treated her late mother and herself before he lost his license
last year. She said Green sat with her during her mother's funeral.

"At one of the most saddest and important times in my life, I had my doctor
there with me," she said.