Martin v. State

On March 21, 1973, Leroy Martin was charged, by indictment, with the first degree murder of Willie Garrett. Martin, claiming self-defense, pled not guilty. Briefly, the story is that the Appellant, Leroy Martin, saw Willie Garrett (an ex-convict who believed Martin had done the “snitching” which resulted in Garrett’s imprisonment) at a funeral home. When Garrett hailed Martin and approached him on the steps of the funeral home, Martin drew a gun and shot Garrett three times. Garrett apparently drew no weapon nor possessed one at the time of the shooting.

Appellant’s first contention is that…