Evidence suppression hearing in Martin capital murder case concludes

Staff report

WARREN

The last witness testified Friday in an evidence-suppression hearing in the capital murder trial of David Martin.

The witness said Martin was at Melissa Putnam’s house to buy marijuana and had a gun the day before he purportedly shot Jeremy Cole to death at that same house.

James Hillard testified that he went to Putnam’s house on Oak Street Southwest Sept. 26, 2012, to visit and ended up smoking marijuana with her, but Martin came to the door asking to buy marijuana from Putnam.

Hillard said Martin was “kind of intimidating” because he showed Hillard a gun and was “talking thug, gangster, tougher than the next guy.”

Martin stood in the threshold of the house for about 10 minutes talking but left after Putnam said she didn’t have any marijuana to sell, Hillard said.

Hillard said Martin was talking about how there were kids about 12 to 14 years old in the neighborhood who carried guns, but he was tougher than them.

Hillard said he told Putnam he had a “funny feeling” about Martin, and Putnam said she didn’t know him very well.

A couple of days later, Putnam, 29, contacted Hillard and told him about Martin, 29, of Cleveland, coming back to her house the next day, shooting Jeremy Cole, 21, of Robert Street, to death and attempting to kill her by shooting her in the back of the head. She survived.

Putnam told Hillard he was “right about that guy [Martin],” Hillard said of the “funny feeling” remark.

Hillard later identified Martin out of a police photo lineup as the man he had seen at Putnam’s house Sept. 26. He also identified Martin in the courtroom Friday.

If Martin is convicted of killing Cole and attempting to kill Putnam, he could get the death penalty.

Judge Andrew Logan will decide whether any of the evidence police collected in the case, including remarks Martin made to police, should be suppressed from Martin’s murder trial, which is scheduled for April 9.