Published: November 19, 2008 11:48 pm      

Records kept confidential in forced child fighting case

A state district judge has ordered certain records will be kept confidential in a case where a local woman allegedly forced her son to fight another child, then whipped him with a belt when he refused.

Mary Ann Green, also known as Mary Ann Grisby Green, 27, of Greenville, has pleaded not guilty to one count of endangering a child.

Green’s defense attorney had subpoenaed any possible records from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services concerning the defendant and two men identified in the motion as the fathers of Green’s children. The state agency had sought to quash the subpoena, arguing such records by law are confidential.

During an interim hearing Wednesday in the 196th District Court, Judge Joe Leonard ruled the records would remain confidential, but allowed for an in camera review by the court. The information in the records could only be disclosed to the attorneys in the case, any expert witnesses scheduled to testify and Green herself.

No additional hearings were immediately scheduled and a trial date has not been set in the case.

Green was indicted on the charge in June.

According to a criminal complaint filed by the Greenville Police Department, officers were called to a residence in the 4100 block of Sayle Street on the evening of March 6, 2006 for a reported assault.

Upon arriving at the home, Green allegedly told officers that she was forcing her 7-year-old son to fist fight another child. Each time her son would stop, she said she would hit him with a belt until he continued.

The boy confirmed the account of the events and officers noticed lacerations and other injuries on the child.