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Case of Perry March
Attorney at Law
Nashville, TN
This page is dedicated to the memory of Janet Levine March
Sexual harassment allegations were made against Perry March by a female paralegal in the law firm of Bass Berry & Sims An out of court settlement was reached.
March has also been arrested for the murder of his wife Janet. Two days before Janet disappeared, her Perry March wrote a letter to the woman named in the sexual harassment case explaining why he could not pay the other half of the reported $25,000 settlement, according to probate court documents filed by the Levines.
Perry March's trial on second-degree murder charges
in the disappearance of his wife Janet will begin on August 7th, 2006. But
before that proceeding begins, March will go to trial on conspiracy and theft
charges.
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Chronology of the Case of Perry March
1997
Disappearance of lawyer's wife remains a mystery (09/21/1997)
1998
1999
2000
2001
Where Is Mrs. March? (01/01/2001)
Award in "Soap-Opera' - Largest in 2000 (01/22/2001)
2002
2003
2004
2005
Perry March's Current Wife Talks About His Arrest (08/03/2005)
2006
2007
Perry March Sues Key Witness Farris (01/03/2007)
March case becoming a book; is movie next? (01/04/2007)
Perry March Story To Become True Crime Novel (01/05/2007)
TV Program Focuses On March Murder Case (01/06/2007)
Also see:
Disappearance
of lawyer's wife remains a mystery
(Associated Press) Charleston Gazette (WV)
By Michelle Williams - September 21, 1997
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Attorney Perry March acknowledges his marriage
was in trouble when his wife vanished last year. He admits he waited two
weeks to report her missing.
But he bristles when asked if he killed her.
"I'm just so sick of that question,'' he said. "It's offensive. Of course not.''
Police are not so sure.
"We never named him a suspect, but you have to start at the inner-circle and work your way out,'' says Capt. Mickey Miller. "Since he stopped cooperating, we can't eliminate him as a suspect.''
A year after Janet Levine March disappeared, police appear no closer to solving the mystery, though they do not expect to find her alive.
"The body could be here to Mexico,'' Miller says. March's father, Arthur, a retired military pharmacist, lives in Mexico.
What led to the disappearance is almost as baffling as what happened to Janet March. On the surface, she had it all.
The dark-haired beauty was an accomplished artist. She was married to a noted lawyer for nine years and they had two children. The family had just moved into an expensive home and were prominent in Nashville's Jewish community.
March, 36, described his 33-year-old wife as lovely, headstrong and impetuous; a brilliant artist but not street-smart and a little "oblivious to the world.''
She vanished Aug. 15, 1996. The Marches were having marital problems at the time and for a few nights Perry March says he went to a hotel after the children fell asleep.
March says his wife complained she shouldered more of the responsibility for their children while he was wining and dining clients.
That night, Janet decided it was her turn for a vacation, he says. She wrote a 12-day to-do list on their home computer, then left with three bags, a passport and $5,000 in cash, March says.
"I thought she was going to take a weekend trip and come back,'' he said in a telephone interview from his Chicago office.
He became worried later that night and called his wife's parents, Carolyn and Lawrence Levine. They urged him not to call police, he says.
"They thought she'd come back and they didn't want to embarrass her,'' he says. "It was the worst decision of my life.''
Missed son's birthday party
March says he called some of her out-of-town friends, checked hotels and the airport parking lot, but there were no signs of her. He held out that she would return Aug. 27 for their son's 6th birthday party.
She did not. Party guests were told she became ill while visiting her brother, an attorney in California.
March waited two more days. On Aug. 29, he reported his wife missing.
Police are skeptical of why March waited so long.
"With two weeks, you got a lot of time to get rid of a body,'' Miller says. "A lot of crucial evidence is gone.''
Police found Janet March's Volvo on Sept. 7, parked at an apartment complex about five miles from the couple's home. Inside were some clothes and her purse, but nothing to indicate her fate.
The couple's home was searched, but when police began questioning March, he stopped cooperating. Police had to get a warrant to search the house again. They discovered the data-storing hard drive of the home computer was missing.
March says he doesn't know what happened to it.
"I didn't take it out. I had nothing to hide on my hard drive,'' he said, adding, "If someone thought they were helping me, they didn't. It hurt me.''
The Levines have said through their attorney, Harris Gilbert, that they believed March's story until a few weeks passed and they still hadn't heard from their daughter.
Other than that statement, they have declined to speak publicly about their daughter's disappearance or her husband. When reached by telephone, Carolyn Levine said talking about what happened "is very difficult for me to do.''
March, who is battling the Levines in court over everything from custody of the children to who should keep the wedding china, believes his father-in-law knows "much more about what happened to Janet than I do.''
The Levines held a memorial service for Janet in November. Through friends, they told March to stay away. It was further evidence that their relationship, once strong, had deteriorated.
Fired by law firm
March, whose education at Vanderbilt University Law School was financed by the Levines, was fired in September from the law firm where Lawrence Levine is a partner.
Fearing the Levines would get custody of the children, (Name Removed), 6, and (Name Removed), 3, March took them to suburban Chicago to live near his brother, also an attorney. After several court hearings, the Levines now get limited visitations.
When asked why the Levines would turn on him after they treated him like a son for years, March says, "That's the thousand-dollar question.''
"I'm being treated like a murderer and they [the Levines] are taking away all our property,'' he says.
On the anniversary of his wife's disappearance, March was in Davidson County Probate Court seeking $3,550 in monthly child support from his wife's estate. He says since the Levines have frozen the couple's bank accounts, he needs the money.
A judge appointed attorney Jeff Mobley as executor of Janet's estate to put an end to some of the squabbling. He is to preserve Janet's financial assets until she returns or is declared dead.
The lavish home Janet designed on four wooded acres in the Forest Hills neighborhood sold for $726,600 in February. The home was titled in Janet's name since her parents paid for the bulk of it, and the money is now in her estate.
Meanwhile, police keep searching. Miller says in the first six months after the disappearance, investigators were bombarded with leads.
They used cadaver-sniffing dogs and helicopters to check the couple's property where a foul odor was reported about the time Janet disappeared.
Divers searched nearby lakes. Scientists used a ground-penetrating, radarlike device to search for clues. Freshly poured concrete foundations in the area were examined. All yielded nothing.
Miller would not comment on the results of the lab tests on a bath mat, shirt and computer disks taken from the home.
Recently, investigators checked a rock quarry and a garbage disposal business operated by one of March's friends, both in neighboring Wilson County. Still, no clues.
One of the chief investigators, David Miller, was taken off the case in January after he discussed police theories with reporters.
He said investigators believed March, who has a black belt in karate, accidentally dealt a death blow to his wife during a heated argument, possibly over a sexual harassment allegation against him.
March left the prominent Bass Berry & Sims law firm in 1991 to work for his father-in-law after he was videotaped leaving sexually explicit notes for a paralegal, police said.
Out-of-court settlement
The woman later sued March and the law firm, and a settlement was reached out of court. Two days before Janet disappeared, her husband wrote a letter to the woman explaining why he could not pay the other half of the reported $25,000 settlement, according to probate court documents filed by the Levines.
Police believe Janet found the letter and confronted her husband, possibly threatening to divorce him or cut him off financially.
March would not verify anything relating to the incident, only to say his wife knew what happened and it wasn't related to her leaving.
Meanwhile, he continues to hold out hope she will turn up alive, but seems resigned to not seeing her again.
He said when his children ask questions about her, he tells them: "We don't know what happened to Mommy.''
"The longer we go, the less likely we are to hear from her,'' he says. "We can't hold out false hopes. I have to tell them the truth.''
If she doesn't turn up, March says the children will survive.
"People live through worse,'' he says.
CBS News - Jan. 1, 2005
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/31/48hours/main527690.shtml
(CBS) When it came to the important things in life, including family, friends and a comfortable home, Janet March had it all. Then, suddenly, she was gone.
48 Hours began covering this story five years ago. Correspondent Bill Lagattuta reports, in a broadcast that last aired on May 28, 2003. In the early '90s, Arthur March became one of hundreds of American retirees who settled in the lakeside town of Ajijic, in central Mexico.
At the time, his son, Perry, was a successful Nashville attorney in the prime of his career. But today, these two Americans, father and son, are using that Mexican paradise as a haven.
"I brought Perry down here because he didn't have any other place to go," says Arthur Perry.
In 1996, Perry March's wife mysteriously disappeared.
Ever since, Perry says he's become a target, too, pursued by people he says are determined to destroy him. He says these same people are trying to kidnap his two children, (Name Removed, 12), and (Name Removed), 8.
"They're very concerned," says Perry. "We're taking a lot of extra security measures ... we have to deal with it every time we go out."
To understand Perry March's life, you have to go back to his former life, back to Nashville and that summer night in 1996 when his wife, Janet Levine March, simply vanished. The story begins more than a decade ago. College sweethearts Janet Levine and Perry March were married in 1987. They lived in a house just a few miles from her parents.
Janet's mother, Carolyn Levine, became almost a surrogate mother to Perry, whose own mother died in an accident when he was 9.
"Janet loved him, and as long as she did, then we wanted to do everything we could to help him," says Janet's father, Larry Levine.
Larry Levine paid March's way through Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville. When Perry began practicing law, he ended up working in his father-in-law's firm.
Meanwhile, Janet pursued her art, painting and illustrating. Three years after they married, (Name Removed) was born; four years later came their daughter, (Name Removed), known as (Name Removed).
"Janet was really a wonderful mother," says Perry.
Just a year before she disappeared, Janet and Perry moved into their dream home, which Janet had designed. This seemed to be Janet's paradise - her dream home, two beautiful children, an art career and successful husband.
But something must have gone terribly wrong, because around 8 p.m. on Aug. 15, 1996, Perry says she just walked out.
On a warm August night in Nashville, Perry says, Janet packed some bags, walked out the door and drove off. She didn't say where she was going, but he says it was the last time he saw her.
Since that night, no one has ever reported seeing Janet March again. What happened that night?
"That night was relatively normal through dinner. We had a nice quiet dinner with the kids. Janet was working. I put the kids to sleep," Perry says.
After he put their two children to bed, Perry says that he and Janet began to argue. "It's the kind of argument that you have when you're both tired of the arguments. She had made a decision that she was going to take a vacation."
His wife was going away for 12 days. Perry said she would be back on Sept. 27, just in time for their son, (Name Removed)'s, 6th birthday.
"She had prepared a list for me of a lot of things that needed to be done, change the light bulbs, balance my checkbook, clean the basement, you know, just a various list of things that I had seemed to have dropped the ball on in the course of my 10 years with her," says Perry.
"She made me sign her list, that I would have these things done when she got back and she said, 'See you,' and the door turned and she started her Volvo and she drove off."
No one else, not even Janet's parents, knew she was going away. Perry called the Levines around midnight and told them she had left.
Carolyn Levine told him not to worry: "I said, 'Perry, don't worry about it. I'm sure if you had an argument, she's upset. She's probably driving around to cool off. She'll be back. Call me when she comes home.' "
But Janet didn't come back in the morning. Carolyn got worried.
"She has never, in my knowledge, ever left the house at night and not come back overnight. Ever," remembers Carolyn.
When Janet didn't call home, Perry and the Levines started looking for her. They called her friends. They went to the airport parking lot and looked for her car. They called hotels in Nashville and out of state. What they didn't do, oddly enough, was call the police.
Perry says the Levines forbade him from calling because they were concerned that it would end up embarrassing their daughter and make the situation between Perry and Janet even worse.
But Larry and Carolyn Levine say it was Perry who didn't want to call the police. "Perry insisted he didn't want to go to the police," says Larry Levine. "He wanted to see a private investigator."
After two weeks, Perry March and his father-in-law walked into a Nashville police station and reported Janet missing.
"It was the biggest mistake we ever made," says Larry of the delay. "But Perry kept telling us, 'Maybe she went here, maybe she went there' ... We believed him."
Part 2: The Search For Evidence
A week into their investigation, police found Janet's car, parked in the lot of an apartment complex a few miles from the March house. They found personal effects, including a passport.
Three weeks after Janet March disappeared - with no credit card use, no phone calls home to check on the kids, and her car found with most of her belongings still packed inside - the police decided this was no longer just a missing persons case. It was a homicide.
The Levine family and their friends posted a $25,000 reward for information leading to the location of Janet March or her body.
The prime suspect was Perry March, and he refused police requests to interview him or his children. When he also refused to allow his house to be searched, police got a warrant.
Police carefully searched the house, as well as nearby woods, two lakes and a river. They found no body, and no evidence that a crime had been committed.
"In my 25 years of experience, I don't know of any other crime scene we've ever covered any closer than this one," says Nashville Crime Scene Investigator Johnnie Hunter.
"They couldn't find some other reason to explain Janet's being missing," says Perry. "They couldn't find anything. And there, it must be me!"
But there was one thing about the search that really bothered police, and still does. It wasn't what they found - but what they didn't find.
Perry told police that a list Janet had given him the night she left had been written on the home computer. The list was practically the only piece of evidence that backed up Perry's story. But police didn't believe him. They wanted to get their hands on the computer's hard drive, because they believed it would show that Perry, not Janet, had written the list.
But the hard drive was missing. Someone else had gotten to it first.
Perry says he didn't remove the hard drive: "There's two people that are high on my list who could have removed it. One of them is Larry Levine, and the other is my father."
Perry's father, Arthur March, had come to stay at Perry's house several days after Janet disappeared. Both Arthur March and Larry Levine deny removing the hard drive.
"Absolutely not. I had nothing to gain by trying to get at it," says Larry Levine, Janet's father.
Meanwhile, police became concerned about something else they didn't find - the tires on Perry March's car. Six days after Janet disappeared, Perry March replaced the tires with new ones.
"It was on my list!" says Perry. "The tires on the Jeep were bald. And she was worried the Jeep was going to be slipping in the rain and all this other kind of stuff and I was just knocking off the stuff on my list."
But according to the tire company, the tires didn't need to be fixed.
"In fact, they questioned that, why the tires were being changed, and Perry said he just didn't like the type tires that were on the car at the time and he wanted a different brand," says Detective Miller.
Yet even as investigators became more and more convinced that he was involved in his wife's disappearance, they couldn't come up with enough evidence to charge Perry March with a crime.
However, there were a few people who had no doubt at all. And they were determined to bring him to justice.
When their daughter Janet first disappeared, Carolyn and Larry Levine struggled to make sense of their son-in-law's story.
"I believed him," says Carolyn. "But I guess I was suspicious."
One thing that troubled her was the appointment her daughter had talked to her about the day she disappeared. In fact, Janet had even asked her mother to go with her the next day to see a divorce lawyer.
When Perry March was named as a suspect and stopped cooperating with police, the Levines' suspicions grew. They are now sure that he killed their daughter.
How certain are they that Perry is the killer?
"Unconditionally positive," says Larry Levine.
But so far there haven't been any criminal charges against Perry March or anyone else. And the biggest reason for that, say police, is because Janet March's body was never found.
When you don't have a body, you don't have a cause of death, you don't have a time of death - and without those basic facts, and no eyewitnesses, prosecutors will tell you it's extremely difficult to convict anyone of murder.
So with the Nashville authorities reluctant to bring Perry to trial, the Levines decided to take up the battle themselves.
"We'd like some justice for Janet's death," says Larry.
The Levines filed a court action to stop Perry from taking (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) out of town. But that very day, Perry moved with his children to Chicago.
The Levines then went to a Chicago court to file for visitation rights with their grandchildren. As they pursued visitation, the Levines also fought to keep everything of Janet's away from Perry, including her dream house.
They won a court-ordered grandparent visitation every other weekend.
But when the Levines showed up in a Chicago courtroom in the spring of 1999 to arrange a court-ordered visitation with their grandchildren, Perry didn't show up.
He had moved to Mexico with his two children. They settled into a new life in Ajijic, the Mexican town that his father, Arthur, had retired to six years earlier. Arthur helped his son get started on a new career as a financial and real estate adviser. And Perry enrolled (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) in a bilingual local school.
"I've probably never seen them happier in their whole life than here," says Perry.
Perry and his children later moved in with Carmen Rojas, whom he met during his first week in Mexico, and her three children. They married within a year, just a little over two months after a Tennessee court declared Janet March legally dead.
"He's a great husband. He's sweet. He's perfect. He's perfect for me," says Carmen.
His old life in Nashville was a chapter Perry March was now more than ready to close. But what happened to his first wife, Janet?
"I've told the children the truth: that mommy left home, we don't know what happened to her. It's very sad, but that's the truth," says Perry.
Two months after Perry fled, the Levines filed a wrongful death claim against their former son-in-law in a Nashville civil court. When March failed to show up in court to fight the charge, the judge ruled against him.
For the Levines, it was a vindication.
Perry felt he was far enough away that a Nashville court couldn't touch him. But he was totally unprepared for what the Levines did next.
Part 3: A Bitter Custody Battle
Ever since Janet March disappeared one summer night in Nashville, her parents have kept up a fierce legal fight against her husband.
For his part, Perry March was starting over. He and his two children moved to Mexico and he remarried. Now, he says, he and the kids are all living in fear. After a year in Mexico, (Name Removed), 9, and his sister, (Name Removed), 6, were happy and comfortable with their father, Perry March, and their new mother, Carmen.
But 1,500 miles away, their maternal grandparents were fighting to get visitation rights.
Since the Levines' action against him for the wrongful death of their daughter, Perry March has refused to let them have contact with his children.
In May 2000, the Levines showed up at his door with legal papers from the U.S. granting them visitation. But Perry refused to let them see the children.
A month later, just after 9 a.m., (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) were starting their school day. Perry was in his office when four Mexicans, one with a badge and a uniform, walked in and told him his immigration papers were not in order.
"They grabbed me under the arms and put me in a headlock," recalls Perry, "[They] lifted me by my ears, lifted me off my feet and shoved me through my conference room doors." Then, he says, they threw him into an unmarked van and sped off.
At the same time, Larry and Carolyn Levine, accompanied by a local lawyer, a Mexican judge and several Mexican policemen, arrived at school for (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) March. The Levines had gotten Mexican authorities to help them execute their court-ordered visitation.
When word about what was happening got to Arthur March, Perry's father raced to the school. The Levines said Arthur pulled a gun on them and told them they would never get out of Mexico alive.
Asked about this later, Arthur said, "I wasn't thinking rationally, but those are my grandkids!"
After a chaotic hour of arguments and threats, school administrators handed (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) over to the Mexican judge, who in turn handed them over to Carolyn and Larry Levine. They headed for the airport with Arthur in pursuit, but managed to elude him and fly to Nashville.
Meanwhile, Perry realized that his armed captors were taking him to the airport. He took a gamble: He dropped the name of the immigration official he suspected his captors were working for.
"The chief of the van got out and got on a cell phone," Perry recalls. "Three minutes of conversation, he gets back into the van, turns around to me and says, 'It's a terrible mistake. I'm sorry. Your paperwork is in order.' "
By the time, Perry reached the school, the Levines and his children were gone. Within 24 hours, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) March were at the Levines' home back in Nashville.
"They are kidnappers," says Perry. "It was all a big orchestration."The Levines had gotten a warning from the FBI that Mexican immigration officials planned to question, and maybe even deport Perry March that morning. This would be a good time, they were told, to try once again to enforce their court order for visitation.
"This was a court order in which we were doing what the court said we had a right to do," says Larry Levine.
Though the visitation was limited to 39 days, the Levines were now taking steps to get permanent custody of (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) March.
Back in Mexico, Perry thought he was going to lose his children for good.
But he hired two lawyers who found an international treaty that changed everything.
"The bottom line is that this treaty says that you can't steal children and try to make custody determinations in the jurisdiction where you stole them to," says Perry.
His lawyers took March's case to a U.S. federal court and won. The Levines were told to send the children back.
"We knew we might never seem them again," says Carolyn, crying. Now, Perry March's family is back together – and now bigger than ever.
"We're now the Brady Bunch. We have 3 and 3, exactly 3 boys and 3 girls," says Perry. "I love it here. I have a wonderful wife, I have a wonderful house, I have a wonderful community around here and this is where I want to live."
Perry is thriving in his new career. He's recently been overseeing the completion of a development called Chula Vista Norte, the most exclusive address in Ajijic.
In Nashville, friends of Janet March are reluctant to make any definite accusations against Perry. But they find it strange that he has said Janet's disappearance may have had something to do with drugs or with an extramarital affair. In fact, they scoff at both suggestions and say that Janet was never involved in drugs or an extramarital affair.
But it's what Perry has said about Janet to her children - and that disturbs Larry and Carolyn Levine.
"He told the children that their mother ran away and abandoned them," says Carolyn, crying. "Her children grow up thinking that their mother abandoned them. But nobody loved them more than their mother."
Detective Miller says Perry March remains the only suspect. And if he did kill his wife, he had two weeks to rid of the body and cover up the crime.
With the investigation still going on, Miller won't share all of the evidence. But he says there are still discrepancies in Perry March's story -that Janet wrote a list of jobs for him to do around the house while she took a 12-day vacation.
"I think, if you look at the date that she disappeared, on the 15th, and you add that 12 days to it, that would have her coming back on the 27th," says Miller. "And that would make sense because (Name Removed)'s birthday was on the 27th, his 6-year birthday. What somebody didn't think about was that Janet had already sent out invitations for his party for the 25th – two days before that."
Somebody also didn't think, or know, about a playdate Janet had arranged for her son, (Name Removed), the very evening she disappeared. It was for the next day.
And finally, Miller says, police also have several witnesses who said that there was a new Oriental rug rolled up, basically blocking the doorway into Perry's study and Janet's art studio. It has never been found, and Perry denies its existence.
The police, however, believe that Perry put Janet's body inside the rug, and carried it out of the house.
Miller says he hopes to close the case within a year. He's looking forward to asking Perry March a lot of questions - about the rug, about the missing hard drive from his home computer, about the tires he had changed after Janet disappeared.
Did Perry March kill his wife - either accidentally or on purpose - and hide the body? "The question is highly offensive to me," says Perry. "The answer is no."
"He took our whole family from us," says Carolyn Levine, crying. "He took our daughter, he took our grandchildren and he took himself, and he meant a great deal to us. But I didn't know him. I wouldn't trust him with anything today."
Award in "Soap-Opera' - Largest in 2000
Martin Paskind
Business and Law
Albuquerque Journal (NM) - January 22, 2001
Following are the 10 biggest court judgments handed down during 2000. Last year's largest award was the result of a family feud worthy of the soapiest of soap operas:
Juries socked Iran, as sovereign sponsor of political terrorism, with two of the year's top 10 verdicts. Tragically, two more awards resulted from sexual abuse of children, one incident involving homicide. The cases and their details:
*Perry March, a Tennessee lawyer, murdered his wife, whose parents obtained a $113 million verdict against him in an undefended wrongful-death case. Now living in Mexico, March wasn't charged. His wife's family made him wealthy an $800,000 house, a legal education and a job in the firm.
Perry March's Current
Wife Talks About His Arrest
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 3, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13487.asp
Perry March moved to Mexico after becoming a suspect in his wife Janet's disappearance from their Nashville home. After moving to Mexico, Perry March got remarried. His new wife, Carmen, watched Wednesday as her husband was taken into custody.
Carmen March, who is a Mexican National, remained in Ajijic, Mexico Wednesday, but she spoke to NewsChannel 5 by phone about seeing her husband being taken away outside a busy restaurant.
"Eight men grabbed him and covered his mouth. Put him in a truck and took him away. So, when you know it's a policeman you're like, `Okay. I know where to go.' But, when you have no clue who was it, then it's bad you know. I'm thinking the worst. And, we called the airport and I'm going to get a court order to see if they can give me that he was kidnapped. So filed and reported a kidnap," Carmen said.
Carmen remained in Mexico with Arthur March, Perry's father. Carmen and Arthur have so far retained custody of the two children Perry March had with his first wife, Janet.
When she spoke to NewsChannel 5, Carmen March said the two children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed), had not yet been told that their father was arrested.
Janet March's Family Reacts To
Arrest
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 4, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13486.asp
Carolyn Levine, Janet March's mother, said she just learned Wednesday that Perry March had been arrested in connection with her daughter's disappearance almost nine years ago.
"We've waited a long time for this. We're not sad, let's put it that way. I'm sad for our grandchildren," Levine said.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, federal authorities made it clear that the Levine's did not know that Perry March had been indicted in December, or that he was going to be arrested.
Carolyn Levine said she was not sure where her grandchildren would live now that their father had been arrested.
Perry March Arrested For Murder
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 4, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13488.asp
Wednesday morning, several men seized former Nashville attorney Perry March from a restaurant in Mexico after he was charged with second degree murder in Nashville for the death of his wife, Janet March.
Around 8:00 a.m., federal agents seized March outside a restaurant in Ajijic, Mexico. March has long been considered the prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Janet March, almost nine years ago. Perry March has been living in Mexico for several years with his two children and current wife, Carmen.
After his arrest, March was taken to a Guadalajara airport and flown to Los Angeles, where he was being held without bond Wednesday. Officials said if March does not fight extradition, he could return to Nashville as early as next week. If he chooses to fight extradition, it could be months before he's brought back to Tennessee.
During a 3 p.m. press conference, Nashville Police Chief Ronal Serpas said March was arrested for the murder of Janet March.
March was indicted in December on several charges, including second degree murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. The charges could get him up to 30 years in jail if convicted. Federal officials said they had March under surveillance for several months, and that he was arrested without incident Wednesday.
John Herbison, an attorney who has represented Perry March in several civil lawsuits filed by Janet March's parents, said the evidence that he has seen against Perry March in his wife's disappearance is anything but solid. "If the government has brought those charges, it's now up to the government to prove the charges. Perry all along has emphatically denied having anything to do with Janet March's disappearance," Herbison said.
Janet March disappeared on August 15, 1996 from her home in the Forest Hills section of Nashville. After his wife's disappearance, Perry March told his in-laws, and eventually police, that the couple had an argument and that Janet decided she needed some time away from her family. Two weeks after her disappearance, Janet March's parents went to police.
Janet March has not been heard from since the day she disappeared, and her husband quickly became the leading suspect after he refused to answer detectives' questions or let them talk to the couple's two young children. Perry March also refused to let police search his house, and repeatedly said he had nothing to do with Janet's disappearance.
Not long after he became a suspect in his wife's disappearance, Perry March left Nashville with his two children and moved to Chicago, and eventually to Mexico.
Janet March's parents, Carolyn and Lawrence Levine, have long felt Perry March was responsible for their daughter's disappearance, and they've fought with him for years over the custody of their grandchildren.
At the request of her parents, Janet March was declared dead by a court several years after her disappearance, and although he's considered a suspect in her disappearance, Perry March had never been arrested before Wednesday.
Attorney Says Perry March Will Waive
Extradition
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 6, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13510.asp
The civil attorney of Perry March, a former Nashville attorney accused of murdering his wife, Janet March, said Wednesday that March would waive extradition.
Since March has decided that he won't fight being brought back to Nashville from Los Angeles, he could be back in Nashville as early as next week.
March is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles court Friday for arraignment. He's charged with second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
As first reported on NewsChannel5.com, March was deported from Mexico, where he's lived for several years, and taken to Los Angeles.
March was accused of murdering his former wife, Janet March, who disappeared from their Forest Hills home in August 1996.
Investigators said they have enough proof to build a case against March.
Attorney John Herbison, who has represented Perry March in several civil lawsuits over custody of his children, spoke to March by phone Thursday morning, and told NewsChannel 5 why March does not plan to fight extradition.
"He's eager to return to nashville, get this process underway and get it in a forum where somebody has to finally bring forth some evidence. Because it hasn't happened yet," Herbison said. "His accusers are going to have to bring forth something. Previously there's been a great reluctance to do that, but every court that's looked at evidence has ruled in Perry's favor."
Herbison added that he wonders what evidence police and prosecutors could possibly have that links March to his wife's disappearance or even death, especially, because her body has never been found.
NewsChannel 5 obtained a copy of the indictments against Perry March, which provide clues about who might be called to testify when and if his case goes to trial.
Almost 60 names were on the list, including Metro Police detectives and FBI agents, Janet March's parents and other family members. Friends of Janet March are also on the list, including one who told police she saw a hallway rug rolled up in a corner the day after March disappeared. Also on the list were the nanny who cared for the March's two children, two cabinet makers who were doing work at the March's house and were perhaps the last to see her alive, some of Perry March's former employers and business associates, and a former co-worker of Perry March's who he was accused of stalking.
March Faces Important Legal Decisions Upon Return To
Nashville
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 6, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13522.asp
March Faces Important Legal Decisions Upon Return To Nashville
Perry March will first be given a chance to post bond and live in Nashville after he arrives from Los Angeles.
Nashville Attorney Larry Woods said a criminal judge must give March a chance to make bond because this is not a first degree murder case.
"The judge is highly likely to say, `Surrender your passport, don't leave the jurisdiction,' meaning Davidson County, Tennessee. It probably means we're going to have Perry March here in Davidson County in jail for a long time to come, or here in Davidson County walking around on the street on bond for a long time to come," Woods said.
Under the sealed indictment charging Perry March with murder, a judge ruled that he cannot get bond through Metro night court, so he will have wait for a formal hearing.
Prosecutors have said the evidence in the case against March does not point to first degree murder, a crime that requires premeditation. They said March was charged with second degree murder because of the nature of the crime.
"The kind of thing where a husband and wife might have a fight, might get into an argument, a disagreement, tempers escalate, etc. That is a classic second degree murder situation," said Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron.
Perry March faces as many as 39 years in prison time if he's convicted on all the charges against him. The sentence for second degree murder is 15-25 years, abuse of a corpse is 3-6 years, and tampering with evidence is 1-2 years. March is also facing an old theft charge, which carries a sentence of 3-6 years.
But Larry Woods said it will be a difficult case for prosecutors.
"Without a body, technically they can go forward, but juries are going to say, `What's going on here?' And without a body, it's going to be a very tough case to make," Woods said.
Some people familiar with the case believe Perry March will ask for a change of venue or request that the jury is selected from outside Nashville.
Perry March Spends Second Night In California
Jail
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 6, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13527.asp
March, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the disappearance of his wife Janet almost nine years ago, is being held at the Van Nuys Community Police Station in Los Angeles County.
March was brought to California after being arrested in Mexico Wednesday morning by United States law enforcement officials.
Perry March has been alone in a cell in the California jail, and is allowed one visitor per day, for 15 minutes. He met with a Los Angeles attorney Wednesday, and has spoken to his Nashville attorney, John Herbison, by phone.
March has been accused of murdering his former wife, Janet March, who disappeared from their Forest Hills home in August 1996.
Investigators said they have enough proof to build a case against March.
March is being held without bond, and is scheduled to face a judge Friday morning.
He is expected to waive extradition, meaning could be brought back to Nashville early next week.
He's been charged with second degree murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
Perry March Arrest: What's Next For His
Children?
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 6, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/
Since Janet March's disappearance almost nine years ago, her parents have been involved in a bitter legal battle with Perry March to over custody of the couple's two children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed). But now that their father has been arrested, the childrens' future is uncertain.
The March children have been living in Mexico with their father, Perry, and his new wife, Carmen for several years.
Carmen March spoke to NewsChannel 5 Thursday and said both of the children were still with her following their father's arrest, and that she planned to continue taking care of them.
"I love the kids. I always take care of them as they were mine," she said.
Phil Smith, a Nashville family law attorney, said the battle over who should have custody of the two children could depend largely on whether Carmen takes the step of officially adopting them.
"In regard to adoption, she would step in the shoes of the biological parent and have the same rights," Smith said.
John Herbison, an attorney who has represented Perry March in the past, said while (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) have not been adopted by Carmen, Perry March said they do have visas, and if they're in Mexico legally, they could stay with her. Also, Perry March could delegate his parental authority to his wife Carmen if the children are in Mexico legally.
But legal experts said If Janet March's parents file a custody action and manage to take custody of their grandchildren away from Perry March, Carmen would not have any claim to the children and would not be allowed to keep them.
March Appears In California Court; Waives
Extradition
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 6, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13556.asp
March Appears In California Court; Waives Extradition
Perry March will return to Tennessee to face murder charges in the death of his wife, Janet.
Friday, Los Angeles Criminal Court Commissioner James Bianco granted March's request to waive extradition and return to Nashville.
NewsChannel 5's Nick Beres was in the courtroom when March was brought before the judge, and said March looked tired and unshaven.
March was represented by Bret Fossett, a former classmate of his at Vanderbilt University.
March was being held on a fugitive warrant following his arrest by the FBI on Wednesday in Mexico.
Fossett said March was eager to get to Nashville and move forward with the case.
"Anyone can see that this is a father who has been ripped away from his family without notice. He was not a fugitive from justice, he was not given the opportunity to voluntarily appear in Nashville to face these charges. He was seized and, I think, just as a human being, you can say he is concerned. Anyone would be in the same situation," Fossett said. "(March) wants to get to trial as soon as possibile so he can get home and see his family as soon as possible."
March did not acknowledge the media in the courtroom and only spoke to his attorney.
March will remain in a Los Angeles jail cell until Metro Police Detectives go to California next week and bring him back to Nashville. A judge set a deadline o August 19th for March's return to Tennessee.
Upon his return, he will be taken through Metro night court, where he will be booked on a grand jury indictment charging second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
Where Are Perry March's Children?
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 6, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13574.asp
The FBI and the Mexican authorities are looking for them, and the kids grandparent's have filed a lawsuit saying March and his family are hiding them.
March's kids have grown up without their mother and they have been in the midst of a bitter custody dispute between their father and grandparents. (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) have traveled back and forth between Nashville and Mexico as court decisions have been reached and overturned over the years.
Now the Levine's, who are the children's grandparents, have filed a new motion in Federal Court. The lawsuit says "March or his agents are secreting the children to hide them from Mexican authorities in violation of Mexican law." It goes on to say "As the children's closest non-incarcerated relatives in the United States, the Levines would like to care for their grandchildren."
Investigators with the FBI confirm that Mexican authorities are looking for the children. Perry March's wife has made it clear in recent phone conversations that the children are with her wife and are safe.
The Levine's produced Mexican documents that indicate the children were supposed to be turned over to the U.S. consulate. The papers also show just days before March was arrested, Mexico denied immigration status for him and his children.
Authorities claim they recieved, "various complaints and denounciations" from local citizens about Perry March.
Mexican Authorities said Perry March, "shall have his immigration status cancelled and shall be expelled from the country."
This case will go before Judge Trauger in Federal Court. She has ruled on some of these issues in the past. But the main issue now is for Mexican authorities to find the two children.
You can read the Levine's petition and see the deportation documents that brought Perry March back to the U.S., on this website.
And you'll also find a complete history of the investigation into Janet March's disappearance, and the custody battle over the children.
To find all links related to the Perry March case, look under Local Headlines on our homepage, NewsChannel5.com
Janet and Perry: Early promise went bad
quickly
by IAN DEMSKY - Staff Writer
The Tennessean (Nashville, TN) - August 7, 2005
March mystery deepens 9 years later
Forty-eight days after his wife's mysterious disappearance, Perry March said in an interview, "I am innocent."
"If she was captured by Moonies, if she didn't do this on her own, I'm going to hug her and I'm going to bring her home, and I'm going to do whatever I have to do to make her whole again," he told The Tennessean in 1996.
For almost a decade, the clues and rumors of the case have been discussed by those who were close to the Marches and total strangers who followed the case in the Nashville and national media.
The 9-year-old case has been a high-profile mystery because of the intricate circumstances, an international flavor and because it involved a couple who went to the best of schools and lived in one of Davidson County's most fashionable neighborhoods.
Did Perry March kill his wife? Was there enough evidence to show that a crime had even been committed? Would he ever be charged?
Last week, Perry March was deported from Mexico, escorted out of the country by FBI agents on a fugitive-from-justice warrant. That federal warrant was based on an 8-month-old secret and sealed murder indictment here.
The 44-year-old Vanderbilt law graduate waits in a Los Angeles jail for Metro detectives to bring him back this week to face charges that he killed Janet Levine March, disposed of her body and then tampered with evidence.
But what really happened to Janet March remains a mystery -- as does the evidence a Davidson County grand jury heard in December.
The early years
Perry March and Janet Levine met in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1982 while both attended the University of Michigan.
Perry was born in East Chicago in northwest Indiana and received his undergraduate degree in Asian studies. He was a member of the U of M Honors Student Council.
Janet was two years younger and had graduated from the University School in Nashville in 1981. Vice president of her high school class, she was always a favorite with the boys, her friends remembered. In her senior yearbook, she was described as a sincere girl with pretty eyes -- an ideal prom queen.
Perry came to Nashville to study law at Vanderbilt University and married Janet in 1987. He earned his law degree in 1988 after serving as associate editor of the law review, winning an American Jurisprudence Award in property class and playing on the law school soccer team. He strummed guitar well enough to entertain and spoke fluent Chinese, one friend recalled. Perry also trained in martial arts.
Carolyn Levine, Janet's mother, became almost a surrogate mother to Perry, CBS News' 48 Hours Investigates reported. Perry's own mother had died of a drug overdose when he was 9. Some of his friends were told that her death was accidental, others that it was suicide. She was 32.
Some who knew Perry described him as high-energy, hard-charging, aggressive and tenacious. But other adjectives came up, too: greedy, manipulative and deceptive.
Likewise, Janet, an artist and illustrator, was thought of as private, witty, reserved, creative, caring, full of life. One close friend remembered her as "one of the funniest people I know." A contractor whom she asked to make numerous changes during construction of her "dream" home on four secluded acres in Forest Hills said she could also be difficult and self-centered.
After graduation, Perry got a job with one of Nashville's most prominent law firms, Bass Berry & Sims, practicing corporate law. Three years later, in 1991, he was asked to leave the firm after an internal investigation pointed to him as the person who left a young paralegal there a series of sexually explicit letters.
A former classmate and Bass Berry colleague said a surveillance camera caught Perry leaving a note for the paralegal in a book in the firm's law library.
One of the lawyers for Janet's family said in Probate Court that Perry agreed to pay the woman $25,000 to avoid a sexual harassment lawsuit but that he had paid only half that amount by the time his wife disappeared.
Perry has refused to comment on why he left Bass Berry & Sims.
The Levines have declined to discuss the case since Perry's arrest Wednesday, but one of their lawyers, Jon Jones, said in a Davidson County Probate Court hearing that they believe a letter Perry wrote to the paralegal on his home computer on Aug. 13, 1996, "may have a significant relationship to why Janet is dead." He did not describe the contents of the letter or say how it may relate to Janet's disappearance, but he said the letter was mailed on Aug. 16, 1996. That's the day after Perry said he last saw Janet.
Metro police declined to comment on whether they had the letter or whether it existed.
It was unclear what, if anything, Janet knew about her husband's problems at the law firm or whether she confronted him about the letter on the night she disappeared.
After leaving Bass Berry & Sims, Perry went to work for his father-in-law, Lawrence Levine, at Levine Mattson Orr & Geracioti, where he practiced corporate law until his wife disappeared.
Several of Perry's friends said he told them that he moved to the much smaller firm because he wanted more freedom to pursue his own legal interests than he would have as an associate with a much larger firm.
Meanwhile, Janet was making a name for herself as an artist. She had several exhibits of her paintings at the now-defunct Cakewalk restaurant, off West End Avenue. She painted a tree at Finezza, which has since been painted over, and a large bar scene just inside Tin Angel. She had helped design the couple's 4,762-square-foot house.
Janet was said to have doted on their children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed), who were 5 and 2 when they last saw their mother.
The disappearance
Perry told The Tennessean that he and his wife had "routine" marital problems and had discussed divorce but were still in love. The day after Janet disappeared, however, she was apparently planning to meet with a divorce lawyer.
Having spent several nights away from their home on the advice of an unnamed therapist, Perry said, he and Janet reconciled their differences on Aug. 13, 1996.
After putting the children to bed two days later, the couple had a tense discussion and Janet told him that he couldn't take any more vacations, sticking her with the household responsibilities.
"She went into my study and typed out a to-do list for me that was designed to be like a contract," Perry told The Tennessean.
She printed out the list, titled "Janet's 12-Day Vacation," and made him sign it, according to one of Perry's former attorneys.
The list included changing light bulbs, balancing his checkbook, cleaning the basement -- "You know, just a various list of things that I had seemed to have dropped the ball on in the course of my 10 years with her," Perry told 48 Hours.
"She said, 'See ya,' " Perry recalled to The Tennessean. "Those are the last words Janet said to me."
Janet had stormed out of the house several times but never left overnight, he acknowledged. She took her passport and a large amount of cash, he said.
Perry said he contacted Janet's parents late on Aug. 15 and told them their daughter had left. Perry and his father-in-law went the next day to Nashville International Airport to look for her car, one of his attorneys said.
Wanting to respect her privacy and not wanting to publicly air the couple's marital problems, a decision was made not to go to the police, Perry said.
Perry and his in-laws went ahead with plans for (Name Removed)'s sixth birthday party on Aug. 25 at Dragon Park on Blakemore Avenue, near Hillsboro Village. They made up a story for friends that Janet had gone to visit relatives in California and could not fly home becauseshe had an ear infection. Many who knew Janet commented that she never would have missed her son's party or his first day of school.
Two weeks after Perry said she disappeared, on Aug. 29, he told Metro police that his wife was missing.
The delay was "the biggest mistake we ever made," Lawrence Levine told 48 Hours. "But Perry kept telling us, 'Maybe she went here, maybe she went there.' ... We believed him."
The investigation
On Sept. 7, Janet's new Volvo 850 sedan was discovered parked at the Brixworth Apartments on Harding Road. Her purse and personal items were inside. A pair of her sandals appeared to have been carefully placed, rather than simply dropped, in front of the vehicle, according to a report in Nashville Scene.
Perry refused to take a lie-detector test about his wife's disappearance, saying that he had been taking anti-stress medication that might skew the results.
Soon police began to focus more and more attention on Perry. He was labeled a suspect in her "disappearance and/or homicide," and what cooperation he initially offered evaporated.
On Sept. 17, 1996, while investigators executed a search warrant, 50 Metro police recruits combed the Marches' wooded property. A backhoe was brought in to aide the search.
Investigators were particularly interested in Perry's computer but found that the hard drive had been ripped out.
From the couple's home, police seized a stained bath mat and shirt, more than 20 computer disks, a magazine, a letter, a legal pad, assorted notes and "fiber trace evidence." Investigators have never commented on blood-test results from the mat and shirt or on the significance of any of the items.
Perry's camp has contended that if there had been any significant finds, he would have been charged a long time ago.
Police also searched Perry's office at the downtown law firm and an apartment he had recently rented near Vanderbilt University after, he said, Janet had threatened to throw him out of their home, which was titled in her name.
An affidavit supporting one search warrant cited "verified reports of domestic violence which Mr. March has given false or misleading statements about." But police refused to elaborate on those reports, except to say officers had never been dispatched to the March home on a domestic violence call.
Six days after Janet disappeared, Perry replaced the tires on his Jeep, a Metro police detective told 48 Hours.Perry contended that replacing the vehicle's bald tires was on his to-do list, but police said the tire company had questioned Perry because the original tires seemed fine.
Metro police also had several witnesses tell them they saw a new Oriental rug rolled up near a doorway into Perry's study and Janet's art studio inside their home, according to 48 Hours. The rug has never been found, and Perry denied its existence.
Nashville Scene also reported that at least one witness had noticed the rolled-up rug when she brought her son over for a play date the day after Janet disappeared. The Marches' son "bounced up and down on the rug," telling their visitor his mother was not at home, the article said.
In 2001, two Nashville television stations reported that a witness had come forward and told police that she saw an Oriental rug rolled up in a trash bin near a Belle Meade market.
A man the witness identified as Perry March told her a family dog was rolled up inside the rug and not to disturb it. In one station's account, the witness came back three hours later and the rug was gone but the man was still there sitting inside a car.
At the time, Metro police refused to confirm or refute the reports. One of Perry's attorneys dismissed the witness' account as unverifiable and said it smacked of an article published several years previously in the Scene.
In late September 1996, about a month after he reported his wife missing, Perry cleaned his office and moved with his two children to Chicago. Police said he packed up his diplomas at the law firm but left behind a photograph of his wife taken on their wedding day.
Investigators wanted to question the Marches' 6-year-old son, but Perry refused to let them before departing for the upscale suburb of Wilmette, Ill.
A messy and contentious battle erupted between Perry and the Levines over the children and money from Janet's estate.
In May 1999, Perry moved to Mexico, taking the two children with him.
The Levines used a visitation order from an Illinois judge in June 2000 to take (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) from Mexico and bring them back to Nashville. In April 2001, the Levines returned the children to Perry March after a federal judge ordered them to do so. The following January, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the Levines of that judge's decision to send their grandchildren back to Mexico.
His arrest has left those watching the case from the outside guessing whether the authorities have recently unearthed a new, key piece of evidence or whether prosecutors simply decided that the evidence against Perry was as strong as it was ever going to be. o
This report was primarily complied from reports previously published in The Tennessean and the Nashville Banner. Material taken from other news sources is explicitly identified. Ian Demsky can be reached at 726-5933 or idemsky@tennessean.com.
With father back in U.S., children should follow, motion by Levines says
Lawrence and Carolyn Levine have asked a federal judge in Nashville to rule that their grandchildren, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) March, cannot continue living in Mexico because their father, Perry March, has been expelled from the country.
Perry March faces second-degree murder charges here in the disappearance of Janet March, the children's mother.
The children have been living with Perry March in Mexico since 2001 when a federal judge ordered them returned to their father. The Levines, who had sued for custody of the children, used a visitation order from an Illinois judge to take the children from Mexico in 2000.
A three-judge federal appeals court panel later ruled that any action over custody or visitation would have to begin in Mexico, which had become the children's "habitual residence" when Perry March moved there with them in May 1999.
The Levines' motion in federal court says that, because March has been arrested and is in the United States awaiting trial on the murder charge, the children are not legally in Mexico because they are no longer in their father's custody.
The Levines asked that the courts find that Mexico is not the children's "habitual residence" and that they should be turned over to U.S. custody.
-- CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
FILE PHOTOS:
CAPTION: Janet Levine and Perry March met in 1982 when they attended the University of Michigan. Fourteen years later, she was missing, presumed dead, and he was a suspect.
CAPTION: Mike Carlton, left, park manager for Radnor Natural Area, and David Cain of Metro Emergency Management Agency check the shorelines on Radnor Lake for the missing Janet March in 1996.
Grand Jury Member Kept March's Indictment
Secret
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 10, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13579.asp
Last week's arrest of Perry March took most Nashville residents by surprise, but for a handful of people it was a well kept secret.
For eight months, Stan Fossick, who served on the grand jury that indicted March on a murder charge, didn't say a word, not even to his wife.
While March was living his new life in Mexico, Fossick and 12 others on a Davidson County Grand Jury spent a day hearing evidence in the case. They decided there was enough evidence to indict March and send the case to trial.
"I think had there been a leak at any level, there would have been a real good chance Perry March could have left Mexico and possibly get into custody where extradition was totally impossible," Fossick said.
Fossick said he could not discuss the evidence presented to the grand jury.
Perry March's
Wife Says Children Are Living With Relative In United
States
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 10, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13616.asp
Perry March's Wife Says Children Are Living With Relative In United States
The FBI and Mexican authorities have been looking for Perry March's children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed). Monday, March's wife Carmen said a Chicago judge has granted temporary custody of the children to Perry's brother, Ron.
The children have been caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between their father and the parents of their mother, Janet March.
Perry March moved to Chicago, then to Mexico after his wife's disappearance almost nine years ago. Just last week, he was arrested in Mexico and charged with second degree murder in Janet's death.
Janet March's parents filed a new motion in federal court late last week seeking custody of their grandchildren.
Ron March is an attorney in the Chicago area, and Carmen March said the children have been with Ron since late last week.
Metro police detectives are expected to travel to Los Angeles this week to bring Perry March back to Nashville. March could be back in Tennessee as early as Wednesday.
Perry March's Father Talks About His Son's
Arrest
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 10, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13660.asp
NewsChannel 5 Exclusive: Perry March's Father Talks About His Son's Arrest
Perry March was arrested in Mexico last week and charged with killing his wife, Janet, who disappeared almost nine years ago. For the past several years, Perry March's children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed), have been living with Perry, his new wife, Carmen, and Perry's father, Arthur, in Ajijic, Mexico.
NewsChannel 5's Nick Beres went to Ajijic and spoke to Arthur, who said the March family was living happily in Mexico until the FBI arrived last week.
"The next thing I know they kidnap my son. To say the least, I'm pissed," Arthur said.
In an exclusive on-camera interview with NewsChannel 5, Arthur said U.S. and Mexican authorities conspired to abduct Perry. He said he believes they did so at the urging of Janet March's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine.
"They kidnapped my kid. First they kidnapped my grandchildren, and the federal court admitted to it, and we got the kids back. The next thing I know, they kidnapped my son," Arthur said.
Perry March was arrested last week on a busy road in Ajijic and deported to the United States. (Name Removed) and (Name Removed) have been placed, at least temporarily, in the custody of their uncle, Ron March, who lives near Chicago.
But Carmen March, Perry's wife, said the children could soon be moved to a more secret location. She said ultimately, she wants them back in Mexico.
(Name Removed) is 11 years old, and (Name Removed) will turn 15 later this month. Arthur March said the children now consider Ajijic their home.
"The kids are doing fine, they've never been so happy in their life. They're bilingual, they're the top students at the school," Arthur said.
Arthur March and Perry's wife, Carmen, have filed formal complaints with Mexican immigration officials, arguing that Perry was illegally deported.
Perry March is expected to be brought back to Nashville later this week.
Lack Of Physical Evidence Likely To Affect March
Trial
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 10, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13684.asp
Perry March will soon be brought back to Nashville to face charges of murdering his wife Janet nine years ago. But some legal experts question whether there is sufficient evidence to link March to the crime.
March's trial could rely heavily on circumstantial evidence. The indictment handed down in December charging March with his wife's murder reportedly does not spell out why police think he committed the crime.
"They might have some physical evidence that we don't know about. The state, more than likely in my opinion, is going to portray Perry March as a person who is very overbearing, a person that can convince you of things because of his deceiving mind," criminal defense attorney Tommy Overton said.
Perry March said Janet left the couple's home on the night of August 15th, 1996, and said she would be back on the 27th. Her car was eventually found parked at an apartment complex a few miles away.
Police said they have several witnesses that will testify Janet March had appointments over that two-week span, and that Perry's version of events isn't consistent with the way Janet did things.
"She's not a person that would have planned a birthday party for one of her children and not show up for that birthday party," Overton said. "She's not a person who would leave her purse and other belongs in a vehicle at some apartment complex."
Some of the most interesting testimony in March's trial could come from the couple's two children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed), who were the only other people at the March home the night Janet disappeared.
If the children do take the stand in their father's trial, prosecutors may argue that they have been with Perry for most of their lives, and that he has a great deal of influence over them.
NewsChannel 5 Exclusive: Witness To Perry March's
Arrest Talks About The Incident
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 10, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13693.asp
Perry March was arrested a week ago in Ajijic, Mexico. He was taken at gunpoint by federal officials and brought back to the United States to face charges of murdering his wife, Janet. Only one person witnessed March's arrest that day, and he spoke exclusively to NewsChannel 5's Nick Beres.
Federal agents arrested March outside the cafe he owns in Ajijic. But questions about exactly how March was arrested have gone unanswered by officials. The only witness to the arrest was March's gardener, Alejandro Ochoa. Through an interpreter, Ochoa talked about what he saw.
"The morning Perry was abducted, how did it happen?" Nick asked. "I've never seen anything like this, because I've never seen four cars coming with ten people with guns," Ochoa said.
Ochoa said March was just arriving for work when men in cars with tinted windows sped to the curb and grabbed him.
"I was scared. I didn't know what was going on," Ochoa said. "Were they Hispanic or did they look like American agents?" Nick asked.
"Mexican people," Ochoa responded.
"Did you ever see identification? Did they ever show you any ID?" Nick asked.
"No. I asked the police who they were, and they said, "We are Federal." I asked the Police why they wanted to take (March) and they said they didn't know anything about this," Ochoa responded.
Ochoa said he was stunned by what was happening. He was standing nearby watching the events unfold when he said agents tried to grab him too. Ochoa resisted, and said the agents left him and sped away with Perry March in a convoy.
He said the whole incident took less than three minutes.
March Likely Will Return To Nashville
Friday
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 11, 2005
Former Nashville attorney Perry March, who's accused of murdering his wife nine years ago, likely will return to Nashville Friday.
Once he arrives, the long process of getting the murder case against him ready for trial will begin.
The indictment does not spell out why police think March killed his wife, Janet, but there are some theories.
"The state, in my opinion, is going to portray Perry March as a person who is very overbearing, a person that can convince you of things because of his deceiving mind," said Tommy Overton, a criminal defense attorney in Nashville.
Police listed several witnesses in the indictment. Those witnesses are expected to help tell the story of what police believed happened.
Neighbors In Mexico Talk About Perry March And
His Arrest
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 11, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13716.asp
Those who know Perry March in Mexico say they have strong feelings about him, and about his arrest on murder charges. Recently, some of March's friends and enemies spoke to NewsChannel 5's Nick Beres in Ajijic about the Perry March they know.
Perry March's children by his first wife, Janet are no longer small kids. (Name Removed) is now 11 years old, and (Name Removed) will turn 15 later this month. Their grandfather, Arthur March, said they are now old enough to know that their father has been charged with murdering their mother.
Opinion is split on two questions among those who know the March family best in Mexico: Is Perry guilty of murder, and should he and his family be allowed to keep custody of the children?
Gayle Cansienme retired to Mexico planning to live on her investments, but instead, she's working at an Ajijic vet clinic.
Cansienme claims Perry March bilked her out of $450,000.
"He robbed me actually, and took my property that was in the United States. I had homes that I owned in the United States (that) he talked me into putting into a corporation for tax purposes. He showed me papers which said that I was president and sole owner of the corporation when in fact it was his corporation," Cansienme said.
March has denied the allegation, and though Cansienme said she doesn't expect to get her money back, she's glad March was arrested for Janet's murder.
"I was delighted, yes. And I was surprised because it's been a long time. They were trying to indict him and extradite him, and I'm very glad," Cansienme said.
Don Leach is a business associate of March's in Ajijic. He said knows little about the murder case against March, but, said Perry is a good father.
"Oh sure I know them well. If they walked by now they'd go, `Hi Don, how are you?' They're great kids, and I've watched Perry parent. He's excellent," Leach said. "I felt bad for Perry because my experience with him has been very, very, very positive."
(Name Removed) and (Name Removed) are currently living with their uncle, Ron March, in the Chicago area. But a custody battle will likely play out in court between the March family and Janet's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine.
Perry March is expected to be brought back to Nashville from California on Friday.
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 12, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13734.asp
March, A former Nashville attorney who has been charged with his wife's murder, was brought back to Nashville from a Los Angeles jail Friday.
March left the Los Angeles jail with two Metro Detectives around 10 a.m. Friday. Police said March was restrained throughout his trip to Nashville.
March was taken through night court at the Criminal Justice Center in downtown Nashville just after 10:00 Friday evening. He was informed of the charges against him by the night court commissioner, and told that he would not be allowed to post bond Friday. March said he understood that, and also that he understood the charges against him.
After his appearance in court, March was taken to a cell within the Special Management Unit of the metro jail. He will be alone in of the unit's 22 cells. That is the same section of the jail that held Paul Reid for more than two years. March will be allowed two visitors, two days a week, and will be allowed out of his cell for one hour each day. He will remain in jail for several days until a bond hearing scheduled for next week.
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said March was being placed in the special area of the jail in part to protect him from other inmates.
"A lot of times a new person to the system doesn't understand that they bring some sort of a trophy at times with their reputation, with their identity. Mr. March has had plenty of attention in the media, both now and over the years, and I think he will be, at least from the inmates side of things, an attractive person for them to be involved with, so we don't want to put him in any danger from that standpoint or anyone else in any danger," Hall said.
March was charged with second-degree murder for the death of his wife, Janet March, who disappeared nine years ago. Janet March's body has never been found. In an indictment handed down in December, March was also charged with tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
March was arrested last week in Ajijic, Mexico, where he has been living for several years with his two children, (Name Removed) and (Name Removed), his new wife, Carmen, his father, Arthur March.
Perry March in Jail on Anniversary of Wife's
Disappearance
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 15, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13787.asp
Perry March's wife disappeared nine years ago Monday. He is spending that anniversary in jail charged with her murder.
On August 15, 1996, Janet March disappeared from her Forest Hills home. On this, the ninth anniversary, Perry March is facing murder charges, almost a decade after his wife's death.
March didn't say much in Night court Friday night. Jailers say he's been just as quiet in his cell the last three days.
He spends almost 23 hours a day in a cell. March gets one hour out for recreation, showers and phone calls, although he's had trouble reaching his father and wife in Ajijic, Mexico.
"Calling Mexico is different than say, calling Antioch, but we're making arrangements," said Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall.
They're also making arrangements for March to have visitors. He's compiling a list of people he'll allow in to see him.
An attorney says March has found the isolation the most difficult part to deal with. The sheriff says it can also be the most dangerous.
"The first 72 hours are the most volatile time," said Hall. "Perry March fits the profile of inmates most likely to take their own lives -- young, white, and rarely arrested. While he's not on suicide watch, he is under close supervision."
"He's in our protective unit, our most secure environment. Mostly so we can evaluate his physical and mental status and know what we're dealing with," added Sheriff Hall.
Nashville attorney John Herbison spent a few hours with Perry March over the weekend. He says March is in the process of retaining him. We understand March met with a different attorney Monday.
Technology To Aid Perry March's Court
Appearance
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 17, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13790.asp
When Perry March's case goes before a judge on Wednesday, he won't even leave jail to appear in court.
He'll be taken to a different part of the jail where he can participate in his court hearing via videoconference.
There's a camera, microphone and a monitor to show him what's happening in court. The same equipment is on the judge's end.
The video conferencing is used for routine court appearances like arraignments where there isn't a lot of paperwork and testimony.
Sheriff's deputies say this process is safer and easier than transporting prisoners from the downtown jail to the courts at Metro Center.
"Mr. March will sit here and the whole process will take about five minutes," said Juan Gomez-Hernandez of the Davidson County Sheriff's Department.
That's about as long as Perry March's night court appearance took Friday night. He said very little as the commissioner read the charges against him.
At Wednesday's hearing March will enter a plea and the judge could set bond.
In the meantime, Perry March remains under close supervision at the Metro Jail. An attorney who met with him over the weekend told NewsChannel 5 that March was "bewildered" on Saturday, but he was in better spirits by Sunday as he adjusted to his new surroundings.
The small cell is a different world from his manor in Mexico.
Two Hearings Wednesday In March Case
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 17, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13830.asp
Wednesday, two Nashville courtrooms will hear testimony related to the Perry March murder case.
Earlier this month March was charged with the murder of his wife, Janet, who disappeared nine years ago. Her body has never been found, but March was charged with second-degree murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
Wednesday, the juvenile court will hold a custody hearing involving March's children, (Name Removed), 14, and (Name Removed), 11.
The children lived with March in Mexico. After his arrest, the children were flown to Chicago where they've been living with March's brother, Ron March.
The children have been in the middle of a custody battle between March and Janet March's parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, that has lasted for several years.
Lawrence Levine and Perry March both arrived at the Juvenile Court Wednesday morning. March was shackled and was surrounded by sheriff's deputies. He wore a yellow, jail-issued jumpsuit.
In a second court hearing, March will be formally arraigned on criminal charges. He will appear in court from the Metro Jail via video. The hearing should only last a few minutes.
March will likely enter a plea to the charges and the judge will decide if a bond will be set for March.
March's Defense Team Includes Prominent
Attorney
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 18, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/
Perry March is getting help from a longtime Memphis lawyer in
his second degree murder case.
March entered a not guilty plea in criminal court Wednesday. He's accused of second degree murder in the disappearance of his wife, Janet, nine years ago.
One of the lawyers March has chosen for his defense team is William Massey, a Memphis lawyer who has been involved in some of that city's most publicized cases.
Massey defended three Memphis daycare workers who were charged with murder after a young girl was left inside a hot van. He also defended a prominent discount store owner who the FBI claimed sold thousands of dollars worth of stolen property to unknowing customers.
And Massey is currently serving as the lead defense attorney for state senator Kathryn Bowers, who was indicted in the Operation Tennessee Waltz sting.
Massey, who is the current President-elect of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, has been practicing law in Memphis for more than 20 years.
March Pleads Not Guilty To Charges Of Killing His
Wife
WTVF (Channel 5) - August 18, 2005
http://www.newschannel5.com/content/perry_march/13849.asp
Perry March faced two court appearances Wednesday. In the first, he entered a not guilty plea to charges of killing his wife, Janet, nine years ago. In the second, he fought for custody of his children.
Janet March disappeared from the couple's Forest Hills home in August of 1996, and her body has never been found. Perry March was indicted in December on murder charges in connection with her disappearance, and he was arrested in Mexico earlier this month.
March has assembled a defense team that includes two attorneys from Memphis along with John Herbison, a Nashville lawyer who has represented March in the past.
March appeared in Metro criminal court Wednesday with shackles around his ankles, and wearing a business suit instead of his jail jumpsuit. "Perry simply wanted to appear looking as nice as he could, without an orange jumpsuit and with a suit on," said William Massey, one of March's lawyers. Perry March was supposed to appear before a judge via video feed, but a technical problem with a closed-circuit television system forced him to appear in person.
Wednesday's hearing lasted a matter of minutes. Prosecutors did not provide any new information about the evidence against March, who pleaded not guilty to charges of second degree murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a c
