The defense began calling witnesses Monday morning in the trial of Pembroke triple-murder suspect Christian “Kit” Martin.
Martin’s daughter McKenzie Bennett lived with her father and his ex-wife, Joan Harmon, for a period of time and testified about a rocky relationship between the couple that would lead to police intervention.
She says when Martin said he wanted a divorce, Harmon vowed to ruin his life.
Allegations by Harmon and the discovery of a government laptop in Martin’s home led to criminal charges from the military and a scheduled court-martial on Fort Campbell. Harmon was indicted for bigamy for having a second living husband in another state.
Assistant County Attorney Katherine Foster served as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney at the time and says she received a phone call from U.S. Army Maj. Michael Garrett, who unsuccessfully attempted to pressure her into dropping the case against Harmon.
Cellphone data expert witness Jonathan Reeves testified to the large amounts of a cellphone usage data in this case, saying in his opinion the phones of Martin and Pamela Phillips were not near each other for the bulk of the day of the murders, with Martin’s usage able to be tracked to Fort Campbell, Hopkinsville and then back to Pembroke, coinciding with the timing shown in video footage of Martin’s residence.
Harmon worked at the L&R Soda Fountain in Elkton at the time of the murders and her manager, Lisa Petrie, testified that she appeared excited and almost happy when she came into work on the day the bodies of Pam and Calvin Phillips and Ed Dansereau were discovered in 2015.
Petrie says she was worried about the safety of Harmon’s daughters, but Harmon was not.
Petrie called the police after hearing more conversations involving Harmon that made her concerned.
The jury also heard testimony from the brothers of William Stokes, who was the boyfriend of Harmon at the time of the killings, and heard from neighbors of everyone involved on South Main Street in Pembroke.