Perry March convicted of soliciting in-laws? murders
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Perry March, a Nashville attorney before he became a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
March is scheduled for sentencing July 20 and could face 15 to 25 years. He is scheduled to be tried later this year on second-degree murder charges in the death of his wife.
March has been jailed in Nashville since he was arrested last August on charges of second-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in the disappearance of his wife, artist and socialite Janet Levine March. Her body has never been found.
Her parents, Lawrence and Carolyn Levine, and March fought in court over the custody of the couple’s two children. March eventually moved his family to Mexico, but the Levines got custody of the children after his arrest.
Prosecutors used seven hours of taped conversations between March and inmate Russell Nathaniel Farris, who also testified, to lay out a case that March wanted the Levines killed to derail the murder case against him.
In a conversation recorded after Farris turned police informant, March says, “Do it. You have to do it when they’re both together to help me.”
The defense claimed that Farris made up the story of a jailhouse hit to get lenient treatment on charges of attempted murder and aggravated robbery. March didn’t testify in the case.
March’s father, Arthur March, also was charged in the murder plot against the Levines and has pleaded guilty. He gave a deposition against his son that was read into court.