Deborah Green, co-leader of a New Mexico paramilitary religious sect, was sentenced in 2018 to more than seven decades in prison after her conviction in a child sex abuse case.
Deborah Green, co-leader of a New Mexico paramilitary religious sect, was sentenced in 2018 to more than seven decades in prison after her conviction in a child sex abuse case.
One of the co-leaders of a militant Christian fundamentalist sect whose conviction for child abuse was overturned by a district court judge saw that conviction reinstated Monday under a state Supreme Court decision.
Deborah Green, 78, was charged with child abuse in the death of a 12-year-old boy identified in court documents as “E.M.” She reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in 2018 and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
However, a judge in the 13th Judicial District Court — which covers Cibola County, where the compound of the Aggressive Christianity Missionary Training Corps was located — set aside the plea agreement, and she was released in 2022.
The decision was appealed to the state Supreme Court, which found the judge’s finding that Green’s failure to seek medical attention for the boy did cause his condition to worsen was incompatible with its decision to accept her claim of innocence of the crimes.
“The district court’s unchallenged causation finding directly implicated Defendant in the commission of the crime,” wrote Justice C. Shannon Bacon, who authored the ruling.
Attorneys for Green did not return requests for comment.
It’s not clear how the case will proceed. The Supreme Court remanded it back to the 13th Judicial District, where Jessica Martinez, a chief deputy district attorney, said the agency would pursue a reinstatement of Green’s sentence.
In a statement, Lauren Rodriguez, chief of staff for the New Mexico Department of Justice, which represented the state in the appeal, lauded the Supreme Court’s decision in finding the district court had erred and called the boy’s death “preventable and tragic.”
“This ruling represents justice for the most vulnerable — the child who suffered and died without help,” Rodriguez wrote. “It affirms that those who endanger children through neglect will be held accountable, and it upholds our shared responsibility to protect those who cannot protect themselves.”
The boy came down with the flu in late 2013, along with many members of the group, according to the Supreme Court ruling. The boy lived at the compound with his mother.
Green, who according to the ruling was considered by the group to be a “prophetess” and an “Oracle of God” and had near-complete control over her disciples’ lives, denied the boy food as punishment for missing meals at the compound — absences caused by his illness.
The boys’ condition worsened. The right side of his body became paralyzed, he went blind in one eye, he lost the ability to speak and swallow and he experienced seizures. The boy died in mid-January 2014 — a death authorities did not learn of until some two years later.
Green was also sentenced in 2018 to 72 years in prison for crimes against a separate child who was taken from Uganda as a baby and mistreated throughout her life, according to news reports at the time. She was eventually removed from the compound by state authorities who had concerns she was malnourished and was suffering from rickets.
Green faced charges of criminal sexual penetration of a minor, kidnapping and child abuse resulting in great bodily harm.
That sentence, however, was also set aside over two years later, and a new trial was ordered. Prosecutors dropped the charges, citing a lack of available, essential witnesses.
The Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps’ Fence Lake headquarters was raided in 2017 after a two-year investigation into concerns about child abuse. Former sect members said the abuse dated back years, and local authorities at the time said the former members described leaders treating followers like slaves and beating children.
James Green, Deborah Green’s husband and co-leader for the group, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on multiple charges, including child abuse. A New Mexico Corrections Department database shows him on probation/parole.
Esteban Candelaria is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. He covers child welfare and the state Children, Youth and Families Department. Learn more about Report for America atreportforamerica.org.
