Jurors deciding the fate of accused murderer Richard Lawrence Martinez went home Monday afternoon without reaching a verdict. They will return for deliberations starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Jurors began weighing the case against the 35-year-old Martinez late Friday afternoon. They deliberated for eight hours Monday before asking to be released to go home shortly before 5 p.m..
Martinez is charged with first-degree murder after deliberation, first-degree murder extreme indifference, attempted first-degree murder after delibration and attempted first-degree murder extreme indifference. There are also four crimes of violence sentence enhancers.
Prosecutors spent all last week presenting their case against Martinez, who shot and killed Matthew Bond, 34, on June 3, 2020 while riding in a vehicle with a friend, Seth Eberly.
Prosecutors told jurors that Martinez meant to shoot Eberly because hours earlier Eberly had threatened Martinez’s common-in-law wife with a shotgun. Martinez pumped 12 rounds into the car Eberly was driving as Eberly was trying to leave the 1200 block of Hunter Court about 4:30 a.m.
Martinez later fled the state and was apprehended in New Mexico.
