Garland "Butch" Martin can finally put his past behind him. The Midland man was across town in 1998 when his home burned down. His wife, Marcia, their one-year-old daughter and three-year-old son were killed. A neighbor saw the flames and called 911.
Still he was arrested and charged with their murders. Arson investigators testified the fire was deliberately set due to what they claimed were accelerants and the presence of a "pour pattern." Martin was convicted of three counts of capital murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. He entered the Texas prison system in 1999.
The Innocence Project of Texas proved Mr. Martin's innocence based on testimony from world-renowned experts. They made the case that the techniques used to investigate the fire in Martin's case have since been rejected.
One study established accelerants are actually all over everything, including ceiling tiles and carpet and linoleum. Attorney Allison Clayton, deputy director of the Innocence Project of Texas says "accelerants can be all over the scene of completely accidental fires. That was really important for a lot of cases. That's what really got the ball rolling."
The Innocence project got the State Fire Marshal's office involved and they put together a scientific working group which concluded there is no proof the fire was intentional.
Clayton says there was sketchy pathology evidence given at trial. "They said a bunch of stuff that was peculiar and didn't make a lot of sense but was not challenged."
The pathologist who testified at trial would later go on to lose his license and do time in prison. The forensic anthropologist recanted.
They were granted a hearing in a district court and issued a favorable finding. The state agreed. But both the district court and the state stopped short and didn't say Martin was innocent.
Clayton said "I think there was a lot of political hesitancy because remember, this is Midland and Midland is a very conservative place. They're already out on a limb by saying this man was wrongly convicted. Three capital counts is a big ask for a very conservative county."
Martin was released on bond in March pending the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decision. This week that court ruled that not only was Martin wrongly convicted, but that he was actually innocent. Clayton made a point to tell him in person. She asked him to meet her for lunch and drove in from Lubbock, but didn't say why. She texted him she had something come up and was going to be in Midland and asked him to lunch.
Martin and his sister showed up. "He came and gave me a hug and said how are you? I said I'm good but I've got a confession to make. I lied to you. He said about what? I said you're my business in Midland today. We got an opinion in your case and his face and his face dropped. I said we won. And he said really? And he just started crying and his sister started crying and I started crying. We were all ugly crying in the entrance to this random restaurant."
She said he read the opinion over and over again. His sister called everyone in their family.
Clayton says these victories are rare and precious.
"It's a really hard area of law to do. The odds are always stacked against us. I've been visiting Butch in prison for years. I've seen him in the white prison jumpsuit for years. The hope and the prayer of every molecule of your body and that you can do something to help him. And when you actually get a good result, everything goes numb and it's just elation."
Martin was in prison for roughly 24 years. Under Texas law he will receive $80,000 for each year for a total of two million dollars.
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