Witness Recantation Claim in Post Conviction Petition & Affidavit Entitles Petitioner to Evidentiary Hearing

Martin v. State, Minn.S.Ct., 1/30/2013.  A jury convicted Mr. Martin of first degree premeditated murder, and crime committed for the benefit of a gang; the court sentenced him on the premeditated murder conviction to life without possibility of release.  Mr. Martin was seventeen at the time of the offense.  The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed his conviction, State v. Martin, 773 N.W.2d 89 (Minn. 2009).  Read about it here.  Mr. Martin filed a post conviction petition thereafter, which the post conviction court summarily denied.

Mr. Martin alleged witness recantations by the only two state witnesses who testified that Mr. Martin was one of the two who had shot the victim:  Mr. Pettis and Mr. Mack-Lynch.  Each provided an affidavit.  Mr. Pettis said in his affidavit that the first time he saw Mr. Martin was in a holding cell at the jail the day before Mr. Martin’s trial, and that the prosecutor pressured him into testifying that he saw Mr. Martin kill the victim, Mr. Lynch.  Mr. Mack-Lynch said in his affidavit that contrary to his trial testimony that he saw Mr. Martin shoot Mr. Lynch, he actually did not witness the shooting.  These affidavits entitled Mr. Martin to an evidentiary hearing; the affidavits presented competent material evidence that if found to be true following an evidentiary hearing could entitle Mr. Martin to a new trial.