Story and photos by Adrian Hedden
El Rito Media
achedden@currentargus.com

Jon Green was found guilty Tuesday of hatching an unsuccessful plot to have his wife killed. The 12-member jury deliberated for about an hour before returning the verdict following a two-day trial in Eddy County District Court in Carlsbad.

Green was convicted on a single charge of solicitation to commit first-degree murder, a second-degree felony. He could face up to 15 years in prison

No date was set for sentencing.

Police said Green, who was serving time at the Eddy County Detention Center in 2023, paid cellmate Greg Markham’s $2,500 bail so that Markham could then kill Green’s wife Kim Lark, a local physician.

The plan, according to prosecutor Dianna Luce of the Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office, was for Markham to break into Lark’s home, wait in hiding for her to return from work and force her to overdose on fentanyl.

Minutes before the jury was called into the courtroom for Monday’s proceedings, District Judge David Finger upheld a defense motion to exclude any mention of Green’s past in Monaco, where he was convicted of starting a fire that killed two people. He was released in 2007 after serving 10 years in prison, later changing his name from Ted Maher to Jon Green before moving to Carlsbad.

Finger also agreed to exclude any mention of Green’s previous alias.

Green “unhappy” with wife he plotted to kill

During closing arguments on Tuesday, Luce said Green believed killing his wife would solve several of his legal and financial problems. The prosecutor described Markham as a “pawn” in Green’s plan, saying Markham took advantage of the situation to get out of jail and never went through with the murder.

She pointed to the reasons Green was in prison when he hatched the plan: dual convictions in 2023 for larceny, after he pleaded guilty to stealing Lark’s Ford Expedition and her dogs; and forgery, after police said he falsified multiple stolen checks in Lark’s name.

The prosecutor also said Green hoped to gain access to Lark’s retirement funds, cash in a life insurance policy and take ownership of her home.

“He is unhappy with Kim Lark,” Luce told the jury. “You have to take into account the totality that he stole the vehicle and the dogs and broke into her office. That’s why he was in there plotting.”

Luce also pointed to several phone calls Green made from jail to associates, including Jennifer Thomas, who the prosecution said transferred money from a Walmart Western Union in Redondo Beach, California, to another one in New Mexico so it could be used for Markham’s bail.

During one call, Luce said, Green used the phrase “grab ahold of her throat and squeeze,” which the prosecutor said alluded to Green trying to get “as much out of” Lark as he could in their pending divorce. Lark and Green’s marriage was dissolved in May 2023 but the settlement is still pending in Eddy County District Court.

In a police interview played for the jury, Green said he “just wanted his possessions” back.

“This is the same person who all he said he wants is his truck and his dog,” Luce said. “But he was in her Expedition driving away with her dogs.”

Luce also contended in her closing that Markham knew too many details about the home where Green wanted Markham to kill Lark – including the location of a safe – for the conversations between the inmates to be construed as merely “bragging,” as the defense argued.

In his closing argument for the defense, attorney Blake Dugger said Green bailed out his cellmate so Markham could save his own dogs that were at risk of being euthanized while he was locked up on a parole violation.

Markham, an admitted drug user who testified for the prosecution on Monday and was cross-examined on Tuesday, said he only agreed to the plot with Green so he could be released. But Dugger argued that Markham planned to extort money from Green, who the defense attorney said was vulnerable to such a ploy because of his “affinity” for animals.

Dugger said Markham’s story was inconsistent as to how the money was moved around, and how he was to kill Lark.

“Markham wanted to get out of jail so he tricked Jon Green to bail him out so he could save his dogs,” Dugger told the jury. “He got out of jail, he got immunity from his statements today. More of the story tends to come out as time goes by. That should give you pause.”

A ‘contentious divorce’

During testimony on Monday, Kim Lark described how she met Green at her medical practice when Green came to her office for an appointment.

She said they shared interests in dogs, skiing and outdoor recreation and started dating after six months. The couple were married in February 2020.

But things “went bad” after only a couple of years, Lark said. She filed for divorce on April 25, 2022, and Green moved out of their Eddy County home.

The next time she saw Green after filing for divorce, Lark said, was in June of 2022 when she saw him stealing her Ford Expedition with her three certified cadaver dogs inside. Aside from her medical practice, Lark helps with search and rescue missions in the region using the dogs, valued at $70,000 each.

That incident led to Green’s arrest in San Antonio and his later larceny conviction, along with the forgery charges – convictions he was serving time for when he allegedly plotted to have Lark killed.

Lark and Green were still legally married at that time, meaning Green could gain access to her finances if she was killed, Lark said,

Dugger asked if she was sure the threat was to “physically” take her life, suggesting it could have been a threat on her reputation.

“I was told someone would end my life physically,” Lark responded.

Markham testifies to murder plot

Greg Markham started his testimony by admitting he was convicted twice of drug possession and suffered from an addiction to methamphetamine. That’s why he was in jail, he said, when he met Green.

Markham’s testimony supported each point stressed by the prosecution: why Green wanted Lark dead, how Markham was supposed to kill her and how Green had several associates move money around to pay Markham’s bail and buy him a camper to stay in once he was released.

Prosecutors played recordings of phone calls between Green, Markham and others for the jury, saying the conversations showed how the plan came together.

Markham denied that he ever intended to go through with the killing, and said he just wanted to get out of jail.

“Never would I ever do that to another human being,” he said when asked about the plan to cause Lark to overdose on fentanyl. “They turn blue. They don’t breathe.”