Father of once-missing Schenectady baby out of jail

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

The alleged father of once-missing infant Madison Green won his freedom Friday in a case his attorney contends, and a judge has agreed, he was illegally detained.

Deralle Green appeared Friday in Schenectady County Court for arraignment on a new indictment charging him with felony criminal possession of a forged instrument and misdemeanor criminal contempt.

He had been held in jail for the past week on a warrant related to the new indictment, even though state Supreme Court Judge Vincent Reilly had already ordered him released on previous allegations against him in City Court. Reilly said Green was “illegally detained.”

Green had been held since Jan. 27, when he was arrested in the midst of the search for infant Madison Green. He was charged then with misdemeanor criminal contempt and misdemeanor custodial interference and ordered held on $3,500 bail, a sum he could not post.

Green’s attorney, Brian Mercy, argued Friday that his client should be released. Prosecutor Tracey Brunecz countered that bail should be increased to $10,000, based on the new indictment and his criminal record.

Acting Schenectady County Court Judge Polly Hoye sided with Mercy, ordering Green be released under the supervision of the county Probation Department.

“He’s relieved,” Mercy said later of Green’s reaction to his release. “He’s been illegally detained since Jan. 27. He’s happy to be out of jail and to be able to fight this case from the outside.”

Green was initially arrested and jailed as investigators searched for Madison Green. The infant was missing for 11 days after a Family Court judge ordered her turned over to Schenectady County Child Protective Services.

Child Protective Services won custody of Madison on Jan. 25 over allegations that her mother, Janel Davis, wasn’t providing a proper environment for the baby.

Davis faces perjury charges in the case, accused of lying to a Family Court judge that she wasn’t the child’s mother. She remains incarcerated.

The baby wasn’t recovered until Feb. 4, when a man surrendered her to the pastor of an Albany church. She had suffered no ill health effects.

The new indictment against Green continues. He is accused of violating a court order to turn over the child and possessing a forged birth certificate.

Mercy said in court he believes the contempt charge continues to be baseless because Green never had the child or had control over the child.

He believes the forged instrument charge relates to the child’s birth certificate, which someone forged to include Green’s name. The original, unaltered document, does not include Green as the father. Mercy also questioned the validity of that charge.

Brunecz noted in court, though, that the grand jury voted the indictment and that Reilly’s ruling ordering Green’s release did not take into account the indictment.