Jury deliberation in the Pembroke triple murder case began Wednesday afternoon in Elizabethtown after the jury heard closing arguments in the morning.
Christian “Kit” Martin is accused of the November 2015 murders of Calvin and Pamela Phillips and their neighbor Ed Dansereau in Pembroke. Calvin Phillips was found shot in his home, while Pamela Phillips and Dansereau were discovered a few miles away in the charred remains of a car.
Martin’s attorney Tom Griffiths has maintained during the trial that key evidence was planted by family members of Phillips and that Martin’s ex-wife Joan Harmon had a motive to commit the murders to frame Martin.
During his closing argument, Griffiths said the planting of a military dog tag that was purported to be Martin’s was an amateurish effort to frame his client.
click to download audioBoth the dog tag and a shell casing were found in the home after the murders by Calvin Phillips’ sister and son and were turned over to police. Griffiths said the shell casing was planted months after the murders because no arrests had been made.
He then told the jury the Commonwealth did not meet their burden in this case.
click to download audioMeanwhile, Assistant Attorney General Barbara Whaley said there were three times when Martin’s cell phone had no activity on the day of the murders. One was in the morning when Pam Phillips left for work and Calvin was killed.
click to download audioWhaley said the second time of no activity was in the late afternoon when Pam Phillips and Dansereau were likely killed. A third time was after 11:27 at night when those bodies were moved and burned.
click to download audioThe jury instructions did not include any charges of complicity after Senior Circuit Judge John Atkins said the Commonwealth did not meet its burden of proof to show that Martin aided someone else or conspired with someone else to commit the murders.
The Hardin County jury will now determine whether Martin is guilty of three counts of murder, three counts of tampering with physical evidence, and two counts each of burglary and arson. If the jury cannot reach a unanimous verdict of guilt or innocence, a mistrial will be declared and the Commonwealth will have to decide if and when a retrial will occur.
