Opening arguments were heard Thursday in the 2015 Pembroke triple murder case that is being tried in Hardin County Circuit Court.
Former Fort Campbell soldier and commercial airline pilot Christian “Kit” Martin is charged with the murders of Calvin and Pamela Phillips and their neighbor Ed Dansereau in Pembroke. Calvin Phillips was found shot in his home, while Pamela Phillips and Dansereau were discovered a few miles away in the charred remains of a car.
Assistant Attorney General Barbara Whaley said in her opening statement that Martin had the motive, means, and opportunity to first kill Calvin Phillips, and later that day Pamela Phillips and Ed Dansereau. Whaley said Dansereau was likely in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was killed.
click to download audioInvestigators have testified that Calvin Phillips was scheduled to appear as a witness in Martin’s court-martial two weeks before Phillips was killed.
Whaley said that gave Martin the motive needed to commit the murders.
click to download audioDuring his opening statement, defense attorney Tom Griffiths maintained there is a lack of physical evidence and DNA evidence to convict his client.
click to download audioGriffiths also mentioned that Joan Harmon, Martin’s ex-wife who was later determined to still be married to someone else at the time, is someone who could have had a motive to frame Martin for the murders.
click to download audioCalvin Phillips’ sister Pamela was the first prosecution witness called. She is responsible for finding two key pieces of evidence in the case and turning them over to the police. First, she testified to finding dog tags in the foyer of the home in the days after the murder. She first thought they belonged to her brother but saw Martin’s name on them. She testified that she gave the dog tags to investigators on November 30, which was 15 days after the murder.
Phillips also testified to finding a shell casing on the back porch of her brother’s residence five months after the murders. She said the shell casing was under a woodpile in the corner of the porch. Phillips said she also turned that piece of evidence over to the police.
The admissibility of the shell casing was allowed by Chief Circuit Judge John Atkins in the days leading up to the trial.
Day two of the trial, which is expected to last around three weeks, will continue Friday in Elizabethtown.
