Former Inmates Say Green Talked About Gere Murder

EVERETT - Michael Kay Green allegedly admitted raping a 12-year-old Clearview girl he had kidnapped from her home in 1985, then using his fists to beat her to death, a jailhouse informant testified yesterday.

Eugene Hillius was serving time in the Snohomish County Jail in December 1991 when he said he overheard Green make the admission. Green allegedly added, "I did it. Everyone knows I did it. But I'll beat it on a technicality."

Hillius was one of three inmates to testify yesterday in the aggravated-first-degree-murder trial of Green, 39. He is accused of the kidnap, rape and murder of Brenda Gere, whose skeletal remains were found 1 1/2 years ago near Marysville.

The inmates were among the last witnesses presented by prosecutors and produced some of the most dramatic testimony since the trial began last week.

Two other inmates testified yesterday that Green told them slightly different stories about what happened to Brenda.

Dana Rice said Green told him in September 1991 he had raped and choked Brenda. The alleged admission came while the two were in a holding cell together before separate court appearances.

Then Green allegedly asked Rice, "Have you ever had raw flesh?" When Rice said no, Green allegedly said, "You should try it sometime."

"He kept on telling me this stuff, like he was getting off on it," Rice testified. Rice said he went back to his cell and threw up.

A third inmate who knew Green in 1989 while Green was serving prison time for other convictions said he and several other inmates were joking about the execution of murderer Ted Bundy the night before.

Green "told me to shut up . . . because some day he might be confronted with the same situation," Tim Caffrey said.

Green allegedly said he had committed a murder and some day expected to be caught. Jurors were not allowed to hear that Green allegedly admitted to Caffrey on another occasion that he killed and buried three women. Judge Gerald Knight ruled the alleged statement could prejudice the jury.

Caffrey said he didn't believe Green until he learned in August 1991 that Green had been arrested for Brenda's murder.

Defense attorney Anthony Savage called for a mistrial after Caffrey said, "The only reason that I'm testifying is because they need to put creeps like him off the street." But Knight denied the motion.

None of the inmates received any compensation or special favors from prosecutors for their testimony, they said.

But Savage suggested the men were making up the stories. Caffrey made a habit of informing on inmates, he said, and Rice and Hillius alleged Green made the statements to them after knowing them for only a few minutes.

Savage was expected to open the defense case this morning but first planned to ask Knight to rule that prosecutors hadn't proved premeditation, a requirement in proving aggravated murder.