Appeal: War trauma in Iraq led GI to kill

Appeal: War trauma in Iraq led GI to kill


By BILL RANKIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 05/20/08

When Pfc. Alberto Martinez returned from heavy combat in Iraq in 2003, he reported tightness in his chest, memory loss and sleeplessness. He would not go to bed without his gun. He repeatedly checked his windows and doors to make sure they were locked.

The soldier in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division had classic symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, according to court records. But he did not get help for it.


Instead, a few days after returning to Fort Benning, Martinez and four other soldiers who had fought side by side during some of the most violent battles in Iraq, went out for a night of hard drinking in Columbus. They first hit Hooters, then drove to the Platinum Club, a strip club.

By the end of the night, one soldier, Spc. Richard R. Davis, 24, was a tattered corpse, stabbed more than 30 times by Martinez.

The Georgia Supreme Court today will hear the appeal of Martinez, 27, convicted in 2006 of Davis' murder and serving life in prison.

Martinez's jury was never told his post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may have explained his murderous act. His lawyer, David West of Marietta, argues Martinez deserves a new trial because his lawyers failed him by not adequately investigating an insanity defense.

Muscogee County prosecutors reject the notion that Martinez was delusional when he killed Davis on July 13, 2003. They argue there was bad blood between Martinez and Davis dating back to their tour in Iraq and that animosity, fueled by alcohol, triggered the slaying.

They note Roger Enfield, director of forensic services at West Central Georgia Regional Hospital, interviewed Martinez before the trial and concluded the soldier knew what he was doing when he killed Davis.

"I think there's a possibility that he had some degree of PTSD," Enfield testified. "The question is what role did it play."

Martinez's trial lawyers, called to testify on Martinez's motion for a new trial, rejected the insanity defense as well. Both attorneys said they did not believe the jury would have accepted it.

"Basically we felt like the jury would feel that he was admitting to the act, which was rather gruesome and also that it was very prolonged," attorney Thomas Flournoy III testified. "It wasn't just a ... sudden impulse."
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