A group of former Georgia deputies were cleared of wrongdoing in a criminal trial where they were accused of repeatedly tasing a man until he died.
The three deputies — Henry Lee Copeland, Michael Howell, and Rhett Scott — were fired from their jobs at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office following an internal investigation into the in-custody death of Eurie Lee Martin on July 7, 2017.
Temperatures reached 100 degrees that day when 58-year-old Martin walked 30 miles from Milledgeville in Baldwin County to Sandersville in Washington County.
At one point, he stopped at a home to ask for water, but the homeowner called 911, telling a dispatcher he didn’t know whether Martin was “crazy, drunk, or what.” Martin suffered from schizophrenia and lived in a group home at the time.
Copeland, Howell, and Scott, all of whom are white, responded to the call, and when they encountered Martin, a Black man, they attempted to interrogate him. When he didn’t answer their questions, they tried to subdue him by deploying their Tasers.
Martin was tased a total of 15 times.
Video footage of the encounter shows one deputy lifting Martin’s shirt to stun him as all the cops command Martin to get on the ground. Martin is seen removing the probes, but the other deputies start to tase him after he falls on the ground.
They cuffed him and briefly left him on the ground before calling for backup. When other first responders arrived and assessed Martin, they couldn’t find a pulse. They pronounced him dead at the scene.
An autopsy report listed Martin’s death as a homicide, but the deputies maintained that they acted in self-defense.
Three months after Martin’s death, all three deputies were fired. They were indicted on felony murder, among other charges, in December 2017.
Nearly two years after they were charged, a judge supported their self-defense claims and ruled that they were entitled to immunity. In 2020, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed that decision, ruling that it wasn’t clear whether the deputies were defending themselves or Martin was merely exercising his right not to speak to them.
The deputies’ first trial ended in a mistrial.
Their second trial, which started last month, ended with their acquittals.
During the proceeding, one defense attorney asserted that Martin committed two crimes: littering and walking in the middle of the road. He argued that the deputies acted with reasonable use of force.
“This case is not ‘poor Mr. Eurie Martin getting tased because he wanted water,’” attorney Shawn Merzlak told jurors, per Georgia Public Broadcasting. “Police officers have a right to detain somebody if they suspect they have committed a crime.”
The prosecution criticized that assessment, arguing that those minor offenses should not have cost Martin’s life.
“They want this to be the standard for your community: People killed for littering?” prosecutor George Lipscomb asked in his closing arguments. “People killed by walking in the street? Is that Washington County? Is this who you are?”
Jurors returned not guilty verdicts for the felony murder and aggravated assault charges. They could not reach a unanimous verdict on the charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct.
Families of the victim and the deputies attended the trial and shared a range of reactions to the verdict.
“I’m just very disappointed,” Martin’s sister, Helen Gilbert, told GPB. “After eight long years, I’m just very disappointed.”
“We’re elated,” said Karen Scott, Rhett Scott’s mother. “Sorry for the Martin family, but we are just elated.”
The attorney for Martin’s family, Francys Johnson, said he still plans to file a civil suit in federal court.
“As a free man in this country, he should have been able to walk home,” Johnson said. “And they are not finished with that walk with Mr. Martin until they experience some justice.”
