Oklahoma death row inmate asks court to give him a new trial

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – An Oklahoma death row inmate wants the Court of Criminal Appeals to reduce his first-degree murder conviction or grant him a new trial in the October 2009 killings of a Comanche County couple.

The court heard oral arguments from prosecution and defense attorneys Tuesday in the appeal of 35-year-old Mica Martinez, who was found guilty in the deaths of 64-year-old Carl Miller and 55-year-old Martha Miller.

Martinez’s attorney, James Lockard of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, argued Martinez deserves another trial because his original attorney changed his defense strategy in the middle of Martinez’s first trial and was ineffective.

Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Crabb says the victims’ deaths were especially heinous and that Martinez’s conviction and death sentence should stand. The victims were beaten to death at their Cache home.