A Christian County Circuit Court judge granted a change of venue and set a trial date in the case against a former Fort Campbell Army major who is accused of killing three people in Pembroke in 2015.
Christian “Kit” Martin is accused of shooting and killing Calvin and Pam Philips and their neighbor Ed Dansereau in November 2015. He is charged with three counts of complicity to murder, arson, attempted arson, second-degree burglary, and three counts of complicity of tampering with physical evidence.
Martin and his defense attorneys, Doug Moore and Tom Griffiths, along with Assistant Attorney General Alexander Garcia appeared before Chief Circuit Judge John Atkins for a pretrial conference Thursday morning.
After discussing some missing discovery documents, Griffiths said they no longer need a DNA expert after the results came back negative on mitochondrial DNA testing conducted by the FBI lab.
Griffiths then brought up a change of venue for the trial with Garcia adding he had no objections. Judge Atkins says he had been in conversations with all the attorneys involved and had already reached out to a judge in Hardin County.
Judge Atkins granted the change of venue and also set the trial date to begin May 31st and continuing for about five weeks.
The judge also set a status hearing for 10:00 the morning of October 1st.
Martin was arrested in May 2019 after he was indicted by the Christian County Grand Jury in the shooting deaths of the Phillips and Dansereau. Calvin Phillips’ body was found in his home on South Main Street in Pembroke, and the bodies of his wife Pam and Dansereau were found in a burned-out car in a cornfield on Rosetown Road a few miles from the victim’s homes.
Martin remains lodged in the Christian County Jail under a $3 million bond.
