2013 Murder Suspect Walks from Supreme Court

John Martinez

Meanwhile, twenty-nine-year-old John Martinez was acquitted of murder before Supreme Court Justice Adolph Lucas today. He was charged with the February 2013 murder of thirty-seven-year-old Ernest Savery in Ladyville. Savery had been shot once in the abdomen while crossing the street from his home to his girlfriend’s residence in the village. Crown witness, Martin Teul had told police in 2013, while being held for a separate incident, that Martinez confessed the murder to him. But on the stand, he denied voluntarily giving police the statement and claimed that he was beaten by police. Teul refused to fold even after being treated as a hostile witness, and after prosecutor Shanice Lovell closed her case, Martinez’s attorney Jeremy Courtenay argued that the case was not proven. Justice Lucas agreed, setting Martinez free of that charge. He remains in prison serving a five-year sentence on another conviction.