Buzzby

Drug Dealers Should Share Blame For Son's Exploits, Mother Says
Holly Hollman | The Decatur Daily | 09/14/2006

A Decatur mother said "the demons on the street corner" share the responsibility for her son allegedly robbing and threatening to kill his friend and leading authorities on a 20-mile chase.

She said the demons are the drug dealers who keep her son supplied with drugs like crack cocaine.

Arrest

Decatur police and the Limestone County Sheriff's Department have arrested her son, Michael "Greg" Gregory Marshall, 40, of 2659 Kirby Bridge Road, Decatur, on charges including first-degree robbery and driving under the influence of drugs.

He is in the Limestone jail on $6,500 bond for traffic charges related to the chase. Limestone Chief Investigator Stanley McNatt said charges are pending regarding Marshall allegedly being in a stolen vehicle during the chase.

Decatur Detective Chris Jones said that when Marshall makes bond in Limestone and issues regarding his probation are resolved, Decatur will arrest him for robbery.

The mother said she wants the community to know there are drug dealers targeting Decatur and turning people like her son into someone she doesn't know. She asked that her name be withheld because she has a different last name than her son and doesn't want to attract the drug dealers' attention to the rest of her family. She has other children, including a 39-year-old daughter, who she said is also addicted to drugs and stays missing.

(BuzzNote: But her children's drug addition has nothing to do with the way she raised them...)

"I want to ask the drug dealers, 'Do you have a conscience? Do you care that I've driven around the city searching for my daughter or that my son has a family and children who have lost their dad to drugs?' " she said. "The dealers are the ones who are murderers and robbers. They sell the drugs that create people who kill and rob."

(BuzzNote: and the bartender sold him some booze, and Ford Motor Company manufactured the truck he drove, and the US Government printed the money he stole, and Mr. Adcock made himself available to be robbed and have his life threatened... If they'd just mind their own business, Greg wouldn't be in trouble!)

Marshall allegedly tricked a family friend of 20 years, Carlos "Reed" Adcock, 72, of Decatur into giving him a ride Monday night, police and Adcock said. He told Adcock his truck broke down, and he needed a ride home.

Adcock said that on Mud Tavern Road, Marshall allegedly threatened to kill him, took his $175 and his vehicle.

Marshall allegedly left Adcock on the roadside, Adcock said.

Marshall led Limestone deputies and Athens police on a chase in the stolen vehicle, Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Randy King said.

King said Marshall told deputies it wasn't anything personal against law enforcement, but the drugs made him do it.

"He did a horrible thing, and I can't defend him for this," Marshall's mother said, "but this started with the drug dealers."

The mother said Marshall has been addicted for 15 years. He started experimenting with marijuana and now does crack cocaine, she said.

"I don't know why he started, but he wasn't one who was popular, and he always wanted to fit in," she said.

The mother said her son sought help for substance abuse, but the dealers look for him once he's out of the program.

"People with such strong addictions need to be contained," the mother said. "Greg would need around-the-clock help. And when the money runs out, where do you get that help? Decatur has a drug problem, and nothing is being done."

She said Marshall is married and has two children. One child worried about going to school Wednesday after the news of his father's arrest.

"I pray my grandchildren will stay away from drugs," the mother said. "But I want everyone to know this could happen to anybody's kid. My son isn't a monster. He's not a heartless criminal. He's in a bad way because of the drugs the dealers sell him. He's not the son I knew before the drugs."

The mother said she thinks Marshall wanted to get caught Monday night and go to prison.

She said her son is on probation for other drug-related charges, and he knew authorities would revoke that probation. Jones said he didn't know if Marshall's previous charges were for drugs, but he did know he has a prior felony.

"Greg thinks in prison he can get away from the drugs," his mother said, "but I told him drugs are in the prisons, too, and that getting away from that is going to have to come from within."

The mother said she doesn't know if drug dealers read the newspaper, but if they do, she wants them to know this:

"You all may be riding today in your fancy cars on somebody else's money, but your day is coming. You are taking lives and tearing them apart."