MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The man who led police to the gun that killed Lorenzen Wright was back in court Thursday.
This appearance, however, was related to his own second degree murder conviction.
Jimmie Martin was convicted of second-degree murder in 2012 for killing his girlfriend Martha Bownes in 2007. He’s serving a 20 year sentence and is seeking a post conviction appeal, which focuses on what his attorney got wrong at trial.
Martin is Sherra Wright’s cousin and began cooperating with Memphis police about the murder of her ex-husband, the same month he was convicted in his own case.
The WREG Investigators recently spoke with Sherra’s former attorney Juni Ganguli who said he believes Martin’s appeal is a play to get out of prison early, after cooperating with the state during the prosecution of his client and her co-defendant Billy Ray Turner.
“I absolutely believe that, that petition for post conviction relief is a ruse, it is a ruse to try to keep his case alive, and at the conclusion of it, will get a sentence of less than 20 years,” said Ganguli.
Ganguli also noted Martin received less than the maximum sentence for his conviction. Court transcripts uncovered by the WREG Investigators reveal the sentence was the result of an agreement struck by the state and defense at the time.
WREG also spoke with Assistant District Attorney Paul Hagerman about Martin’s appeal, He served as the lead prosecutor in the cases against Turner and Sherra Wright. WREG asked Hagerman whether Martin’s cooperation in Wright’s murder and his appeal are connected.
“He’s been told numerous times that his telling the truth, in the Lorenzen Wright case is something he had to do under his use of immunity agreement, and it was something that was not going to get him any credit or anything having anything to do with that murder case.
So he’s been made the opposite of promises on that. It is not going to help you, you’re on your own with that” said Hagerman.
In court Thursday, Martin was appointed a new attorney and court date after his previous attorney, C. Alex Jones, filed a motion to withdraw from the case. Jones works in the same office as Coleman Garrett who represented Martin during his trial in 2012.