Victim lived long enough to ID killer, officials say

Dying from stab wounds, Decarla Dixon was able to indicate to rescue workers that her attacker was Troy Lee Green, prosecutors say.

By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 10, 2003

TAMPA -- One of the last words on Decarla Dixon's lips, prosecutors say, was the name of her killer.

As the disabled 34-year-old mother of two lay bleeding in her apartment on Nov. 8, 2000, she repeatedly identified "Troy" as the man who stabbed her 39 times and slashed her throat.

Her two young daughters heard it.

So did Hillsborough County rescue workers.

When detectives showed the girls pictures of Troy Lee Green, a part-time auto mechanic with a history of grand theft arrests, they identified him as their mother's friend.

Green, 47, whose trial began this week at the Hillsborough County Courthouse, could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in Dixon's death.

In his opening statement Thursday, prosecutor Curt Allen said that on the morning of her death, Decarla Dixon accompanied her two daughters, then ages 9 and 6, to school. Dixon had cerebral palsy and got around in a wheelchair or an electric scooter.

When the girls returned to their N 14th Street apartment that afternoon, they found their mother's "mangled, brutalized, bleeding" body, Allen said.

Allen said the attack likely occurred as Dixon was face-down on the floor, trying to protect the back of her neck with her hands. During questioning by detectives, Green first said he hadn't seen Dixon for months before her murder, then admitted visiting her apartment the day she died and even seeing her body, the prosecutor told jurors.

The prosecutor said Green's DNA was found under the victim's fingernails, and investigators found the victim's DNA on Green's hat, sunglasses, socks and shorts.

Defense attorney Harvey Hyman told jurors there was no evidence the attack was premeditated. He said a more fitting charge for the slaying would be second-degree murder or manslaughter. "We know she got herself killed. We know she was stabbed many, many times. We know whoever did it was really, really mad," Hyman said. He said there were no witnesses to describe what led up to the killing.

Hyman questioned whether Dixon correctly identified her attacker, saying, "How do we know some stranger didn't do this to her, and she mistook this person for Troy?"

The defense said Dixon lived in a crime-ridden neighborhood and made a habit of keeping her door open.

He also called the DNA evidence linking Green to the murder unreliable, and said there was no known motive for the murder.

Prosecutors have not mentioned a specific motive, but one of Dixon's daughters testified Thursday that her mother had lent Green money.

-- Christopher Goffard can be reached at 226-3337 or goffard@sptimes.com .

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