Witnesses detail horror of watching Eurie Martin die in tasing murder trial

SANDERSVILLE, Ga. — The murder trial of three former Washington County sheriff’s deputies opened with multiple eyewitnesses saying they watched deputies tase Eurie Martin for as long as two minutes at a time. Martin, a mentally ill man, was walking along a country road prior to his July 7, 2017 death.

The case has captured national attention as another alleged instance of white police officers killing a Black man. Family members wept as witnesses described the deputies’ kneeling on Martin’s shoulders, legs and waist as they held tasers on his body until he stopped moving.

Prosecutors argue that the deputies' use of force was unwarranted and excessive, and Martin was not required to stop for because he had committed to no crime.

“Being a strange-looking stranger, being out of place, being misunderstood is not a cause for detention,” Assistant Washington County District Attorney Kelly Weathers told jurors. “It’s not a cause for tasing. It’s not a cause for arrest. And it was not a cause for Eurie Lee Martin, a human being, to die.” 

Defense lawyers argued the deputies acted reasonably given how little they knew about Martin and a lack of training by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office on recognizing and dealing with someone who is mentally ill. 

The defense argued deputies had cause to stop Martin because he was illegally walking in the road and justifiably used force after Martin took a defensive stance that defense attorney Pierce Blitch said wasn’t captured on video.

“Right then, when the deputies were witnessing that, they were witnessing a crime being committed right there in front of them,” defense attorney Pierce Blitch said. “It’s called felony obstruction of a law enforcement officer.” 

Prosecutors have said deputies were not in danger and can’t claim their use of force was justified.

Married couple Lee Curtis Bentley and Susan Steele, whose living room overlooked the Deepstep Road field where Martin died, recalled the deputies screaming at Martin, who was face down on the ground, to pull his arm out from under his body so they could get a second handcuff on him. Eyewitness video captured Martin's repeated cries of pain.

Steele, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, said the deputies – two of them “obese” and a third slightly smaller – held Martin down as one yelled at him to “get your hand out from under your body” at least three times. “Don’t make me do this,” he said. The deputies then stood up and appeared unconcerned about Martin’s condition.

“Mr. Martin appeared lifeless,” she said. “He did not move again.”

Bentley said he grew extremely upset while watching. When they stood up, one deputy kicked Martin’s shirt and pulled it toward him. He was like “no more than a dead animal,” Bentley said. “It was incomprehensible to see.”

More:Watch the trial live

Assistant District Attorney Kelly Weathers said Martin, 58, had been tased at least 15 times during a period of four minutes and 17 seconds. Martin suffered from schizophrenia and had gone off his medication, she said. On the hot, sunny July day he  walked from his home in Milledgeville toward Sandersville in Washington County. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation would later determine Martin had no alcohol or illegal drugs in his system, she said.

Represented by attorneys from Augusta, former deputies Michael Howell, Henry Lee Copeland and Rhett Scott were indicted for felony murder, involuntary manslaughter, false imprisonment, aggravated assault and reckless conduct. 

The trio initially claimed immunity due to their acting in self-defense under Georgia’s “stand your ground” law, but last year the Supreme Court of Georgia disagreed, saying Judge H. Gibbs Flanders – who remains the judge assigned to the case – conflated a citizen's use of force in self-defense with a police officer’s use of force in making an arrest.

Georgia law enforcement doesn't have the "stand your ground" protection that an ordinary citizen does, said Statesboro attorney Francys Johnson, one of several representing Martin's family in pending litigation against the government.

If convicted of felony murder, the most serious of charges against them, the rural community will achieve a first that larger cities have yet to accomplish, Johnson said.

"This will be the first time in Georgia history that white officers will be held accountable for a Black person's murder," he said.

More:Georgia Supreme Court rules against Washington County deputies in Black man’s death

Court records and prosecutors' statements Wednesday said a few minutes before Martin died, Deepstep Road homeowner Cyrus Harris called 911 to report Martin, who had approached Harris and gestured toward an outdoor faucet for water. His response had been "get off my property," Harris testified, and Martin turned and left. Harris didn't mention the water request to 911.

"He was nasty, filthy," Martin's hair matted and clothes draped loosely in the heat, Harris said. "I didn't like the look of him."

Howell, who had been on his way home to eat, and Copeland pulled their patrol cars in front and behind Martin as he walked down the side of the road. Martin crossed the road and kept walking.

Dashboard video shows Martin telling the deputies he wasn’t doing anything wrong, but as he continues walking, Howell ordered him to put his hands behind his back.

The deputies and Martin then pass out of the camera’s frame. Martin is heard screaming from the taser blasts, but gets up and keeps walking.

In the video, Scott pulls up in front of Curtis' and Steele's home as Martin gets there on foot. Video shows Scott and the other deputies surrounding him in as Scott pulls Martin’s shirt and shocks him from behind.

Martin spins around, arms flailing, before falling to the ground with one arm pinned under his body#. When the deputies eventually get his wrists in handcuffs, Martin is no longer moving. The deputies stand around for minutes.

“Damn that was an idiot,” one deputy says on dash cam audio. “He’s got to be on something, acting like he was.” 

After a few minutes, an ambulance arrives, but it’s too late.

The trial is expected to conclude next week.

Associated Press reports were used in this article.