Prosecutors won't pursue charges against Marsh's mother, sister

<p>Prosecutors said they do not plan to pursue charges against the mother and sister of former Tri-State Crematory operator Ray Brent Marsh, signaling at end to the four-year case.</p><p>Clara and LaShea Marsh were charged with making false statements on death certificates. Prosecutors said Friday they placed the charges on the "dead docket," which they described as inactive status.</p><p>"This puts an end to it, barring any unforeseen circumstances," Assistant District Attorney Chris Arnt said.</p><p>Arnt said the charges may be dismissed in about four years, but a judge must give approval.</p><p>Clara Marsh is the mother of and LaShea Marsh the sister of Ray Brent Marsh, who is serving a 12-year sentence after more than 300 uncremated bodies were discovered at the crematory in Noble, Ga., in 2002.</p><p>Marsh stopped performing cremations at the Tri-State Crematory in the late 1990s, when he took over the family business. Investigators acting on a tip discovered a ghastly scene of bodies dumped in woods, buildings and sometimes stacked on top of each other. Marsh had given relatives cement dust instead of ashes.</p><p>He pleaded guilty in 2004 to 787 counts of theft, abuse of a corpse, burial service fraud and making false statements. He also pleaded guilty to related charges in Tennessee and agreed to the same 12-year prison sentence, which is to run concurrently with the Georgia sentence.</p><p>Defense lawyer McCracken "Ken" Poston said the charges against the Marsh women never would have been filed if it had not been for the discovery of the bodies.</p><p>"This was an aspect of trying to get anybody named Marsh," Poston said.</p><p>Prosecutors alleged the women falsified the documents by signing a line reserved for a licensed funeral director, but Poston argued that the law at the time allowed the documents to be signed by a licensed funeral director or "someone acting as such."</p><p>He also argued that state officials, who often signed the death certificates from Tri-State Crematory that were left unsigned, were aware that no one at the Noble crematory was a licensed funeral director as early as 1993.</p><p>Poston said this jeopardized the case because of a four-year statute of limitations.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cdbcd0)</p>