Former pro baseball player convicted of killing dad, two others with bat
A former Tampa Bay Rays player faces sentencing after a brutal triple murder
A former pro baseball player has been convicted of three counts of first-degree murder in a horrific crime and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
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Brandon Willie Martin, 27, killed his father, 64-year-old Michael Martin, his uncle, 51-year-old Ricky Lee Anderson, and an ADT alarm installer, 62-year-old Barry Swanson on Sept. 17, 2015, according to NBC Los Angeles.
The penalty phase of the trial will take place on Monday, Nov. 9. when jurors will decide if Martin should face the death penalty or spend life in prison without parole, according to the Office of The District Attorney County of Riverside.
The former Tampa Bay Rays farm team player who was a first-round draft pick in 2011, used a black wooden baseball bat carved with his name to murder the three victims. He reportedly had no prior convictions but was admitted to the Department of Mental Health’s emergency facility two days before after making threats to his disabled father.
When he returned to the1000 block of Winthrop Drive in Corona, California he went on a rampage attacking his father, uncle, and a man present at the home to install a security system because the family was worried about their safety.
Martin and Swanson died at the home while Anderson remained in a coma for days before he eventually passed.
Martin then took Swanson’s Ford Raptor pickup truck and fled the scene. He was discovered the next day by an off-duty police officer but fled on foot after officers tried to use intervention maneuvers to disable the truck. He ran into the home of a woman who was showering at the time and was apprehended by a K-9 officer after he jumped from a second-story window.
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The woman was not injured.
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