Trial will be held next June for the man accused in the 2015 murders of three neighbors in Pembroke, but there will be a change of venue.
Attorneys representing Christian “Kit” Martin and the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office did not disagree about a change of venue and Christian Circuit Judge John Atkins granted the request, moving the trial to Hardin County Circuit Court.
He scheduled the trial for May 31 through July 2 and the judge reserved the right to take off a couple Wednesdays during that time to hear his regular docket in Christian Circuit Court.
Tom Griffiths is one of Martin’s attorneys and withdrew his motion for a DNA expert after testing of hair in the evidence did not implicate his client.
Assistant Attorney General Alexander Garcia says a request by Griffiths for the remainder of electronic evidence will be met in the next couple weeks after he receives an empty jump drive.
Martin is charged with three counts of murder, arson, attempted arson, first-degree burglary and three counts of tampering with physical evidence. Each count of the indictment alleges Martin acted “alone or in complicity with others or another.”
On November 18, 2015, Calvin Phillips was found shot to death in his home located on South Main Street in Pembroke. The bodies of Pamela Phillips and their neighbor, Edward Dansereau were found a few miles away in a corn field near Rosetown Road in a burned up car owned by Mrs. Phillips. Martin could face the death penalty, if convicted.