From: Platte County Prosecuting Attorney "Eric Zahnd"
Date: April 08, 2010
Subject: 10 years for vehicular death
A Liberty man has been sentenced to ten years in prison for killing one man and injuring two others after he hit them with his vehicle before fleeing the scene. Jack A. Martin, 23, was sentenced April 8 after pleading guilty in February to involuntary manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident, and two counts of assault.
Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said, “Even though this defendant may not have intended to kill or seriously injure anyone, his reckless actions had precisely those results. Having once passed people walking down the street, he turned around and raced up the narrow street at nearly 25 miles per hour over the speed limit.”
According to Zahnd, on September 6, 2009 at approximately 2:00 a.m., several people met at an area on Frontier Street in Northmoor, and an altercation occurred. Following the altercation, Martin left in his Jeep Cherokee and passed by a group of pedestrians walking on the street.
Apparently believing the fight to be starting again, Martin then turned his vehicle around and returned up the street at a high rate of speed. Accident reconstruction experts from the Missouri State Highway Patrol determined Martin’s Jeep traveled at approximately 49 miles per hour. The speed limit on Frontier Street is 25 miles per hour. |
Jack Martin
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As Martin approached the group of pedestrians again, he did not steer away and hit three of them. One man died at the scene, another suffered serious physical injuries requiring surgery, and a third suffered a shoulder injury and had several teeth knocked out. Martin left the area immediately.
Zahnd said, “People use the phrase “senseless crime” all the time, but this crime was exactly that. The defendant’s moment of anger extinguished one promising young life, injured others, and will now alter his life radically for the next decade.”
The case was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Northmoor Police Department. It was prosecuted by First Assistant Prosecutor Mark Gibson and Assistant Prosecutor Jaclyn Taylor.
Eric G. Zahnd
Platte County Prosecuting Attorney
415 Third Street
Suite 60
Platte City, Missouri 64079
(816) 858-3476
(816) 858-3472 (fax)
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