Earl B. Martin v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 27, 2019
Docket19A-CR-627
StatusPublished

This text of Earl B. Martin v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) (Earl B. Martin v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Earl B. Martin v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.), (Ind. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED regarded as precedent or cited before any Nov 27 2019, 9:02 am

court except for the purpose of establishing CLERK the defense of res judicata, collateral Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals and Tax Court estoppel, or the law of the case.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE Matthew J. McGovern Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Anderson, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana Ellen H. Meilaender Supervising Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Earl B. Martin, November 27, 2019 Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No. 19A-CR-627 v. Appeal from the Vanderburgh Circuit Court State of Indiana, The Honorable David D. Kiely, Appellee-Plaintiff. Judge Trial Court Cause No. 82C01-1712-MR-7874

Brown, Judge.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-627 | November 27, 2019 Page 1 of 17 [1] Earl B. Martin appeals his convictions for murder, attempted murder, two

counts of robbery, and conspiracy to commit robbery. We consolidate the

issues he raises as whether the trial court abused its discretion or erred in

admitting certain evidence. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[2] In December 2017, Martin communicated with his co-worker, Jalil Fellows, via

text messages. Martin asked Fellows if he knew someone they could rob, and

Fellows gave Martin the phone number for his marijuana supplier, Brandon

Waldroup. Fellows believed that Martin was going to rob Waldroup of a half-

pound of marijuana and they would split it in some way.

[3] On December 18, 2017, Miranda Grissom, Martin’s friend, picked him up from

his mother’s house around 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. and took him to her apartment

located across the street from Rick’s Sports Bar. Grissom observed that Martin

had a gun. A couple of hours later, Martin left with the gun and said he was

going to Rick’s to meet his girlfriend.

[4] That same day, Waldroup exchanged text messages with a person calling

himself Jeremiah. They decided to meet at Rick’s Bar, and Waldroup drove to

the bar with Christopher Hoefling. Waldroup heard a tap on the rear passenger

door, unlocked the car, and Martin opened the door and pointed a gun at

Waldroup’s head and a second gun at Hoefling’s head. Waldroup turned his

head back around, heard a gunshot, and was then struck by a second shot. A

few seconds later, Waldroup saw his car door open, and Martin pulled him out

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-627 | November 27, 2019 Page 2 of 17 of the car and threw him face down on the concrete. Waldroup laid in pain for

awhile before turning his head to see that his car and Hoefling were gone.

[5] A passerby approached Waldroup, and officers arrived at the scene. Waldroup

was able to give the officers a description of his vehicle and the person who shot

him as an older black male with a tan jacket. Waldroup was unable to tell the

police if Hoefling had been shot.

[6] Evansville Police Detective David Smith sent officers to speak with Hoefling’s

father and then to Waldroup’s apartment to look for Hoefling. Detective Smith

went through the process with Blue Link to locate Waldroup’s car but was

unsuccessful. 1 He then contacted AT&T regarding Waldroup’s phone, received

an emergency disclosure, discovered that the phone had been turned off

moments after the incident, and learned that two phone numbers were of

interest and belonged to Fellows and Martin.

[7] Waldroup was transported to the hospital and had a bullet removed from his

jaw. While he was in the hospital, he identified Martin from a photo array as

the person who shot him. Evansville Police Detective Peter DeYoung spoke

with Waldroup and learned that Waldroup’s phone was likely in the vehicle

and that there was a second victim. He contacted the phone carrier and asked

1 Detective Smith testified that Waldroup’s father thought the car had Onstar and that he ultimately determined that the brand of Waldroup’s vehicle used Blue Link.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-627 | November 27, 2019 Page 3 of 17 for an exigent circumstances tracking of the phone so he could locate the

second victim.

[8] Meanwhile, at some point that evening, Martin’s girlfriend, Heather Wilson,

called him, and he asked her for a ride but did not seem to know where he was

and gave her the names of the intersecting streets. Wilson picked him up in a

red PT Cruiser, noticed he smelled of marijuana, and dropped him off at his

mother’s home.

[9] Martin called Fellows and said it “turned out bad” and Fellows would “see it

on the news.” Transcript Volume II at 120. That night, Fellows went to

Martin’s house and obtained three ounces of marijuana.

[10] Around 10:00 or 11:00 p.m., Martin called Grissom and asked her to pick him

up at his mother’s house. She picked him up, noticed that he had marijuana

with him, and returned him to his mother’s house around 7:30 a.m. the

following morning.

[11] On December 19, 2017, Detective Smith told Evansville Police Detective Brad

Evrard that he had a number for one of the victim’s phones. They contacted

the cell provider and obtained information regarding two phone numbers that

were communicating with Waldroup’s phone. Detective Evrard entered the

phone numbers into Facebook and discovered that one number belonged to

Fellows and the other belonged to Martin. He took the numbers for Fellows

and Martin and “did an exigent warrant to Verizon.” Id. at 246.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-627 | November 27, 2019 Page 4 of 17 [12] The police searched for Waldroup’s vehicle that day but did not find it. That

afternoon, they executed a search warrant on the home of Martin’s mother.

Police discovered a .380 caliber Cobra handgun and a .22 caliber Ruger pistol.

They discovered a velvet Crown Royal bag containing eighteen rounds of

federal .380 caliber ammunition, a firearm, a Carhartt jacket, and marijuana in

a bag in a trash can of a neighboring home. Police collected jeans from a

bedroom with blood on the seat, a pair of work boots, two .380 caliber spent

shell casings, and a box of .25 caliber ammunition from the northeast bedroom.

[13] Evansville Police Detective Jeffrey Allen Hands informed FBI Special Agent

Kevin Horan of the missing vehicle and that there was another victim. Agent

Horan created a report for the Verizon phone number believed to belong to

Martin.

[14] On December 19, 2017, the police recovered Waldroup’s vehicle and

discovered Hoefling’s body inside. After a search warrant was obtained for the

vehicle, the police discovered a spent .380 caliber shell casing, a small baggie of

suspected marijuana, and a .22 caliber shell casing. An autopsy revealed

Hoefling suffered four gunshot wounds to his back and died as a result of a

large accumulation of blood in the right chest cavity caused by one of the

gunshot wounds.

[15] On December 26, 2017, the State charged Martin with Count I, murder; Count

II, murder; Count III, attempted murder as a level 1 felony; Count IV, robbery

resulting in serious bodily injury as a level 2 felony; Count V, robbery resulting

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-627 | November 27, 2019 Page 5 of 17 in serious bodily injury as a level 2 felony; and Count VI, conspiracy to commit

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