HB Man Gets 50 Years for Killing Dad

A 37-year-old Huntington Beach man was sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison Friday for shooting his father to death at a trailer park after a long argument over the son's gun ownership.

Jeremy Dwayne Martin gunned down 62-year-old Frederick Martin on May 20, 2011, in their mobile home at the Huntington By the Sea trailer park on Newland Street.

During Martin's March trial, Orange County Deputy Public Defender Stephen Daniels contended Martin shot his father in self-defense, citing a methamphetamine-induced psychosis. Jurors could have considered lesser charges of second-degree murder or manslaughter.

Jurors deliberated for about a day before convicting Martin of first-degree murder.

Several neighbors in the Huntington By the Sea trailer park heard the defendant and his father in a "very loud argument" that led to a fistfight outside their mobile home, with Jeremy Martin standing over the victim, Deputy District Attorney Sonia Balleste said.

"Fred Martin's only goal was to keep his home safe. ... He did not want his son Jeremy with that gun because of the dangerous way he was acting," Balleste said in her opening statement. "Equally goal-oriented, the son wanted to keep that gun."

The father went to a clubhouse at the trailer park and called police, asking officers to take his son away and have him evaluated, Balleste said.

When the officers noticed the victim's wounds from the fight, Fred Martin said he had stumbled on the stairs and fell, Balleste said. Police went to the home, but because the son did not answer and the father did not report a crime, they left, the prosecutor said.

The victim later called his work and left a voicemail message that he would not be coming into the office that day, Balleste said. Fred Martin was heard on the recording saying, "Jeremy, put the gun down. I just want to talk."

The next call to police came from the defendant, who said in a "chilling, cold" tone he had an "emergency" at the home he shared with his father and brother, Balleste said.

The defendant lied to police initially, saying his father tried to choke him and he shot the victim in self-defense, Balleste said.

Before the shooting, the father told his unemployed son that he would have to move out, the prosecutor said.

In a later interview with investigators, the defendant said he thought his father would turn him in for using methamphetamine and that doing time behind bars would be like dying, according to Balleste. He also told police he had a "meth lab" in his car, which wasn't true, the prosecutor said.

While getting ready for work about 5 a.m. the morning of the shooting, the defendant's brother noticed the gun in Jeremy's bedroom and informed their father, according to Daniels. An "annoyed" Andrew Martin said his brother had been up all night causing a "ruckus," the attorney said.

-- City News Service