June 10, 2021 at 1:07 p.m.
Motion hearing set in Martinson double homicide case
Motion hearing set in Martinson double homicide case
Martinson, 23, is serving a 23-year prison sentence for shooting her stepfather Thomas Ayers and stabbing her mother Jennifer Ayers in their town of Piehl home on the morning of March 7, 2015.
As of this spring, Martinson is representing herself as she continues to pursue potential avenues for appeal.
On March 15, she filed a motion with the court requesting release of "any and all evidence in the above named case to include any and all sealed documents."
Court records also indicate Martinson contacted the Oneida County medical examiner's office to request copies of her parents' autopsy reports but was denied.
"These reports are vital for me to represent myself pro se," she wrote in an April 29 letter requesting a hearing.
On May 16, Martinson wrote another letter requesting a hearing on her request for the autopsy records.
"I wrote already inquiring about evidence being released on my case," she wrote. "I was denied and told to write to the ME (medical examiner) which there's been a mistake because the evidence I'm requesting is from my case not someone else's. I want all of the autopsies and paperwork and video documentation released to me so I can properly represent myself pro se. I need these things as soon as possible."
According to court records, Bloom has agreed to hear argument on the motion at 11 a.m. June 25 and Martinson has requested to appear via Zoom.
On March 11, 2016, pursuant to a plea agreement with the state, Martinson pled guilty to two counts of second-degree intentional homicide. At that time, her defense attorneys also entered into the record a document referred to as "Appendix A" which outlined the cycle of sexual, physical, emotional and mental abuse Martinson suffered through for most of her life at the hands of various men in her mother's life.
Following her sentencing hearing in June 2016, Martinson filed a motion for post-conviction relief arguing that Bloom had "erroneously abused his discretion" in his sentencing remarks.
The only choice Martinson believed that she had, at the crucial moment, was whether to kill herself or stepfather, the defense argued. Further, the defense noted that Martinson and the state entered into a plea agreement whereby the state agreed to amend charges of first-degree intentional homicide to second-degree intentional homicide based upon the mitigating circumstance of adequate provocation. Among other things, the adequate provocation defense is premised upon a "complete lack of self-control' on the defendant's part. Given this premise, Martinson argued Bloom erroneously exercised its discretion when he stated at sentencing that she "had a choice" whether to kill the victims.
In a 19-page ruling released Feb. 20, 2019 the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Wausau rejected Martinson's argument.
"We conclude that pursuant to the plain language of the relevant statutes, when the State stipulates to amend a first-degree intentional homicide charge to a second-degree offense based upon the mitigating circumstance of adequate provocation, it stipulates not to the fact that adequate provocation existed, but rather to its inability to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that facts supporting such a defense did not exist," the ruling read. "Moreover, longstanding sentencing law permits a circuit court to reach its own conclusions about a defendant's character based upon the information before it. Because the record here contained information sufficient to support the sentencing court's comments regarding Martinson's volitional capacity to commit the murders, we affirm."
Martinson later attempted to appeal that decision to the Wisconsin Supreme Court but that panel declined to hear the case.
According to the Department of Corrections website, Martinson has served 6 years of the 23-year term of incarceration imposed by Bloom. She is scheduled to be released from prison on Feb. 28, 2038 but will remain on extended supervision until February 2055.
Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.