Over the past two years, I may have been a bit harsh on Detective Leonard Scott Smith. I singled him out in the post, A Detective’s Sleight of Hand. I criticized his mishandling of important clues in my last post, All About Snakes and Airplanes. I’m sure I had some negative things to say about him in my book. But now I have to publicly thank him for his efforts. Since he went on a local Nashville news program to report on his latest bombshell evidence, my book sales have skyrocketed. The book has been a number one Kindle new release from day one. Sales are about to really take off.
Almost immediately after Detective Smith made his unfounded claims, I was inundated with people wanting my response. This doesn’t look good for Kit; I heard more than a few times. Everyone just calm the f*&% down.
There are details about this new evidence that I am not ready to share just yet. That will be done at the appropriate time and venue. For now, I’m just going to look at this new evidence from a logical standpoint. Nothing I am about to say is not already in the public domain.
Let’s start with the claim that Kit used a 22-caliber AR-15-style rifle to kill Pamela Phillips and Ed Dansereau. Wait a second. I remember Barbara Whaley making the following statement in her closing argument: “The guns that killed these three people were found in the defendant’s home.” So, does that mean that they had it wrong when Barbara Whaley told the jurors that she thought it was the gun with the laser sight because the killings were done with military precision? Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is what Judge John Atkins told the jurors was necessary to convict. Does this mean that they had it wrong at trial? It wasn’t the gun with the laser site or the other two 22-caliber guns that could have been the murder weapon? It was this new gun all along?
Okay, I get it now. They apparently made a mistake at the trial. Yeah, but this new gun was found hidden in a stairwell. What do you have to say about that? As it turns out, there is an explanation for that, but I’m not divulging that detail just yet. Remember, we’re looking at the facts in a logical manner. Detective Smith and Barbara Whaley spent a lot of time telling the jurors that Kit planned for all contingencies. Apparently, however, Kit went through a lot of effort to conceal one murder weapon but then put the Glock 45 in the gun safe. That doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense.
Okay, but what about the silencer? Detective Smith says he believes it was used on the Glock. “I don’t know. I’m a gun person.” Smith told reporter Jeremy Finley. “I’m a firearms person, I’m a firearms instructor, and I don’t own a suppressor (silencer), have no use for them.”
If you are a police officer or firearms instructor, you probably do your target practice at a shooting range where they have hearing protection. But if you’re out shooting watermelons and beer cans, not only do you not have hearing protection, but you also make a lot of noise that could disturb people living nearby. Joan used the Glock 45 for target practice in Calvin’s backyard. You can legally buy a silencer (suppressor) in any gun shop in Kentucky.
One last note about the silencer (suppressor): The reason these devices are referred to as suppressors, as opposed to silencers, is that they only suppress the sound coming from the gun; they don’t silence them. On average, it’s about 25% to 35% less decibels. Here is what the NRA has to say about suppressors:
Suppressors not only protect your hearing but also help minimize the accuracy-skewing flinch caused by a loud noise during shooting. Additionally, they can measurably reduce muzzle flash and felt recoil.
American Rifleman
Here is what Kit had to say about the silencer.
You can test for yourself the acoustics of a legally bought suppressor for target shooting. They are still Very loud and still require hearing protection for extensive shooting. Its not like the movies and TV shows portray.
Christian Martin
Okay, but Detective Smith says the silencer matched the color of the Glock. Really? Do they sell orange and red suppressors that I don’t know about?
Next, Barbara Whaley told the jurors that Kit went back to the house because it hadn’t burned down like he had expected. I’m not sure why he would have to take a rifle with him for his second attempt to burn the house down, but okay. Kit, Laura, Emma, and Austin were all home at 5:00 p.m. on the day of the murders. At 5:23 p.m., just seven minutes before the time when Pam and Ed are thought to have been killed and about the same time Pam was pulling into her driveway, Emma and Austin leave for Chick-fil-A to meet up with a group from school. Kit and Laura were celebrating their anniversary that night. They had the house all to themselves. Kit had brought home roses for Laura. According to Detective Smith, Kit apparently grabbed his 22-caliber-AR-15-style rifle and marched across Main Street during rush hour in Pembroke like Rambo and ended up killing two more people. Apparently, Laura never knew Kit was gone.
Detective Smith made a calculated decision to make nonsense claims. Watch what happens next.
Funny in this United States legal system there seems to be no consequence for wrong doing our perjury. In your book, I read that Detective Smith lied to the Grand Jury on Kit’s cell phone ping location. The prosecutor can’t have it both ways in terms of Kit Martin: They paint him a trained military precision killer, but that same killer would leave fake dog tags on a shelf where he supposedly just murdered two people? It was also very suspicious that two family members of Calvin Phillips were able to find evidence after multiple police/sheriff professionals searched the premises. I also find it strange that Kit’s defense team didn’t bring up his medical back injuries listed in his military medical history. How could a man with some very severe back injuries pick up murdered victims, which are literally dead weight, and place them in a car.
Why, in our supposedly best legal system in the world, was Joan given the right not to testify in the trial? I might understand that decision better if Joan had legally been Kit’s wife, but she wasn’t because she was still married to another man. I also understand that profiling people’s past behavior seems to be something our court systems loves to disallow as evidence, but as most of us know we all have our behavioral habits and Joan’s habits were pretty well known by all who knew her. It starts back with Joan’s father whom she accused of sexual harassment. The family members were united in remembering Joan as a compulsive liar. Joan then had a relationship with a logger in Oregon and had a baby, but did not marry him. At the end of that relationship, Joan secretly took the son and slipped away without any forwarding address left for the father. Move ahead to Joan’s next relationship with an illegal alien whom she married and had two daughters. Once again Joan stated that she was being abused and was afraid for her life, in this case the protector of Joan was Kit Martin who helped her pack their things and once again leave without a forwarding address for the father of the daughters. Does anyone notice a cycle in Joan’s behavior? When she decides it’s time to end a relationship she makes up a story then goes looking for a protector to start up an new relationship.
Now we fast forward to Joan and Kit’s relationship. Seemingly everything had been going along smoothly in Germany. I can’t find any of the witnesses that testified saying anything wrong with Kit or Kit’s parenting skills. Kit was a quiet mild manner man who was away a lot on military duties. Kit finds out the fact that Joan was never divorced from her former husband, so Kit simply say our marriage will be annulled. Joan makes her famous statement, “If you divorce me, I will ruin your life and I know how to do it.” The cycle continued in Joan’s life as another relationship was about to end. The manipulative nature of Joan not only with the men in her life, but also with her children sets the stage for cruelty of a magnitude almost incomprehensible toward Kit that would not only end his career in the military, but also destroy is life causing him to serve three life sentences for crimes he did not commit.
It was also no surprise to me that Kit’s appeal was denied! Can you imagine the pressure on the appellant judges to deny Kit’s appeal. First, you have Judge Adkins who did everything in his power to ensure Kit was convicted of the three murders. Judge Adkins allowing Joan not to testify in court was probably the single most important decision in the court proceedings. The cross examination of Joan on the stand would have been very interesting. A compulsive liar has a tough time keeps all the lies straight and will normally break under the pressure of a good presentation of the facts. The dime store made dog tags found by relatives of Calvin Phillips would be laughable if it were not so serious a mistake of evidence. The 45 shell casing found again by the sister of the deceased Calvin Phillips. These two relatives should find a career in CSI police work. How about the affair Calvin had with Joan? How about Joan living with the brother of the investigating officer of the Pembroke Sheriff office Stokes? Was Calvin’s warehouse searched? How about the murder of the Mennonite couple, that same couple that rented a house to Joan? After the murder of the Mennonite couple , Joan appears to have come into money she bought a car and new clothes, where did the money come from?
I am simply a civilian and I can find major gaps in this case against Kit. One more thing, at the trial a black man, I can’t remember his name, testified about the burning car. Why wasn’t his wrap sheet given to the jury? I will leave another whole issue of Governor Bashir, the Attorney General of KY, at the time of Kit’s arrest for another time.
I would like to be able to view comments and replies from others.
I am a good friend of Chris’s Mom and Dad and sister Amanda.
Thank you