Brent Marsh released from prison after serving 12-year sentence

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MACON, Ga. (WTVC) -- NewsChannel 9 has learned through his attorney that Ray Brent Marsh, the Walker County man who operated the Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Georgia, and who was convicted of improperly disposing of more than 300 bodies, was released from Central State Prison in Macon, Georgia.

McCracken Poston confirmed the details to NewsChannel 9 on Wednesday morning. Marsh was sentenced to 12-years in prison after he pleaded guilty.

WSB-TV was on the scene in Macon as Marsh walked free:

J. Allen Murphy"s grandmother Doris Mae Tierney was one of those whose bodies was improperly disposed. In reaction to the news, Murphy told NewsChannel 9, "I think the sentence was appropriate. People have served less time for murder."

In 1996, Brent Marsh took over the operations of the Tri-State Crematory after the previous owner, his father Tommy Marsh, declined in health.

In October 2000, a gas man claimed he first saw bodies scattered around the crematory. The Walker County Sheriff"s Office decided the complaint was a regulatory issue, not criminal, and nothing was done.

In November 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency in Atlanta got an anonymous tip that there were body parts in the woods near the Tri-State Crematory. Walker County Sheriff"s Office did a routine check, but didn"t find anything.

On February 14, 2002, federal agents got another anonymous tip that someone walking a dog in the woods on crematory property discovered a human bone. The next day, agents found 49 un-cremated bodies scattered in buildings and in other places on Marsh"s property.

A federal disaster team was brought into the area along with a portable morgue shipped from Maryland. The team began trying to identify the remains, a process made difficult because many of the corpses were in advanced stages of decomposition. Some were little more than skeletons.

Experts hired by the Marsh attorneys, Stuart James and Frank Jenkins, were prepared to testify that the methods of recovery were questionable and that the methods were made more difficult because of the lack of trained experts undertaking the investigation on the Marsh property.

The experts, however, never testified because the civil cases against Tri-State and the funeral homes that had used Tri-State to perform cremation settled after a second trial had begun in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

The search ultimately recovered 339 uncremated bodies. Of the 339 bodies that were discovered, 226 were identified. DNA testing was possible in those cases where a living relative was available, but in other cases, it was considered unlikely officials would ever be able to identify the remains.

It was later revealed that instead of cremated remains, Marsh gave some families concrete dust.

Marsh later claimed that his crematory machine was broken. But at the time, several other cremation experts said that even if the machine had broken down, proper maintenance would have kept the incinerator working, noting that most oven manufacturers have regular maintenance programs available.

The state of Georgia ultimately charged Marsh with 787 counts, including theft by deception, abusing a corpse, burial service related fraud and giving false statements. When he pleaded guilty, Marsh told victims, "To those of you who may have come here today looking for answers, I cannot give you."

Almost 1,700 members of the families of the identified corpses sued Tri-State and the funeral homes that had shipped the bodies there, and were eventually granted class-action status in two courts in two different states.

The class certification hearings resulted in certification of a class action after hearings were held in Hamilton County, Tennessee in front of Judge Neal Thomas. Judge Thomas, and the Oden class action, certified the numerous cases pending in the State of Tennessee as a class action.

The funeral homes sued Tri-State and Marsh, eventually settling first for $36 million with the plaintiff"s class in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Ultimately, the Marsh defendants also settled for $3.5 million after their insurer, Georgia Farm Bureau, agreed to pay the settlement.

As part of the settlement reached, by spring 2005 all buildings on the Tri-State property were razed. The property will remain in a trust so that it will be preserved in peace and dignity as a secluded memorial to those whose remains were mistreated, and to prevent crematory operations or other inappropriate activities from ever taking place there.

In addition to his 12-year prison term, Marsh was also sentenced to 75 years of probation.

On February 7, 2007, a week before the five-year anniversary of the discoveries at the former crematory, the criminal defense attorneys for Marsh revealed that physiological testing had indicated that Brent Marsh was a victim of mercury toxicity from the cremation of bodies with mercury dental amalgam. They stated that a faulty ventilation system exposed both Marsh and his father to toxic levels of mercury.

UPDATE: Several viewers who had family members involved in the scandal have shared their thoughts on our Facebook page. Here are some of them:

"The hurt is real. We tried to move on, to cope. We were violated and to hear people say he did his time, let him be free. What about us, we did the time too, and we will never be free." --Twylia Corbin"My father was cremated there... (We hope!) his remains were never found on the property, and we have human cremains, (tested after retrieving them from his grave, and having them analyzed by the GBI! There are no way to know whether they are actually my father, but by faith, we believe they are, and so we re-interred them to his grave. And still I say, he has served his time. It is now time for all of us, including him, to get on with our lives, forgive him and those that have done us wrong, don"t remain bitter, yet find the happiness that is there for us if we can only seek it." - Jay Westmoreland"I personally have an aunt that was found on his property so sorry by "served his time " doesn"t cut it for my family. Going for DNA testing "re burying my aunt. This was traumatic. He didn"t get enough time. He is sick." --Brian Muir"My aunt was torn into pieces through all of this then they gave her someone else"s ashes ! With him being out it brings all the pain back to these families." --Angela Bradshaw" He returned my step-grandmother in her urn as soil and silver coat buttons. She was to be cremated in hospital gown. So, she was just a pile of decay on top of another loved ones decayed matter. No matter what he does now and how great he seems their is evil hiding in there. Evil doesn"t just go away. He should be spending his LIFE in prison." --Jessica Norman"As the daughter of someone who wound up there ,12 years is not enough. When we found out what had happened, it was like she"d died all over again. Those of you who say 12 years is enough, and that he did his time: I have no idea where my mother wound up. Is 12 years really enough time? Had it happened to you, you"d think what we"re all thinking." --Tiffany Daniel Duffy"My brothers body was never found, he should have never gotten out !" --Brenda Hill"My dad"s body was never found either,a ww2 vet that served our country in war,and worked had all his life ,we had to go to national cemetery and take up his ashes ,take them to Trion ,it was rocks.,how would you people feel if you had to do that." --Pat Welch

UPDATE: Marsh returned to his home in Walker County Wednesday afternoon:

This is a developing story. Depend on NewsChannel 9 for updates as we get them.

Source: http://newschannel9.com/news/local/brent-marsh-released-from-prison-after-serving-12-year-sentence