Leon County jury convicts inmate in capital murder trial

Judge Kenneth Keeling’s District 278 courtroom in Centerville was packed to overflowing on Monday morning for the closing arguments in the capital murder trial of Jerry Duane Martin (39). The gallery consisted mostly of officers from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice correctional facility in Huntsville who were hoping for a verdict that would honor the sacrifice of Susan Canfield, a prison officer who was killed in the line of duty on September 24, 2007. Canfield (59) was a mounted guard on the morning that Martin and John Ray Falk attempted to escape from the onion field where they were assigned to work. Late in the morning, Squad 5 had worked their way close to the facility’s boundry, and just beyond it was the Huntsville City Service Center where a truck was parked. Martin wrestled a gun from the field boss, who was a new correctional officer. He tossed the gun to Falk, then ran to the pickup. Falk exchanged fire with officers, ran out of ammunition, and as Canfield approached on horseback, he engaged her to get her rifle. Martin approached in the one-ton Ford pickup and struck Canfield and her horse, and the 59-year-old officer was killed.

Walker County District Attorney David Weeks argued for the prosecution team, which included Attorneys Jack Choate and Stephanie Shoud. Weeks pleaded for the jury to recognize the escape --by force, at gunpoint as “a battle plan in a war without honor” and described Canfield as “the last line of defense... upholding the oath the every correctional officer makes to be that which separates the evil inside those walls from the people outside those walls.” Pressing for a conclusion that Martin’s actions were intentional and knowing, rather than merely reckless, Weeks asked the jurors to come back with a verdict that Martin was guilty of capital murder.

The defense’s closing arguments, which were made by Paxton Adams and Billy Carter, centered on the conflicting testimonies heard during the previous seven days of the trial: Was the horse standing or moving? Was the vehicle moving slowly or accelerating through the mounted rider? Was Martin attempting to turn left to avoid the collision? Carter stressed that the State of Texas failed to perform an accident reconstruction, which could have determined firm evidence to help the jurors make their decision. He concluded with a plea that, “lacking clear and convincing evidence”, the jurors consider those unresolved points as worthy of reasonable doubt as to Martin’s intent, and come back with a verdict of one of the lessor offenses (murder, aggravated assault, manslaughter, or criminally negligent homicide.)

After deliberating for about two hours, the jury of seven women and five men, including several residents of Buffalo, returned a unanimous verdict of capital murder. The punishment phase of the trial will begin on Tuesday morning.