HORRY COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – A motion to dismiss has been filed in a decades-old murder case and claims Horry County police destroyed evidence.
The motion was filed on September 20 by Amy S. Lawrence and Sarah M. Austin of The Lovely Law Firm in Myrtle Beach. The motion lists Gary Wayne Bennett as the defendant, according to the motion. Bennett’s charges of murder and armed robbery are in connection to the 2000 murder of Eva Marie Martin.
The motion alleges that employees of the 15th Circuit Solictor’s Office and the Horry County Police Department “have engaged in a pattern of systematic misconduct related to this case that spans nearly 20 years.”
“Defendant cannot receive a fair trial now nor at any time in the future, and cannot be afforded due process of law pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I Section 3 of the South Carolina Constitution, because of the destruction of evidence and the cumulative effect of the misconduct committed by the State in this case,” states the motion. “Furthermore, Defendant’s trial cannot proceed without the missing videotape containing the sex act and confession of Andrew Lindsay.”
According to the motion, Lindsay is a co-defendant in the case.
On May 23, 2000, Eva Marie Martin was killed in her home, the motion states. Lindsay fled from South Carolina to Arizona “shortly thereafter.” HCPD detectives located Lindsay in Arizona and Lindsay was extradited back to Horry County on July 20, 2000.
“The videotaped evidence that is the subject of this motion was recorded on July 24, 2000 at the Horry County Police Department upon Lindsay’s arrival,” states the release. On August 4, 2000, Bennett and Lindsay were arrested and charged with murder and armed robbery in connection to Martin’s death.
“Prior to Defendant’s trial, Lindsay gave several conflicting recorded statements to police regarding his and Defendant’s involvement in the murder and armed robbery of Eva Marie Martin,” the motion says. “Defendant maintained his innocence and produced an alibi. Ultimately, Defendant was tried, along, for the above-reference indictments.”
“At Defendant’s trial, Lindsay’s testimony was the only evidence presented to sustain Defendant’s conviction,” claims the motion. “Lindsay accepted a plea deal to Accessory After the Fact in exchange for his testimony against Defendant at trial.”
Bennett was convicted of murder and armed robbery on August 14, 2002.
Bennett appealed his conviction, “alleging that the trial judge erred when ruling that the jury was not permitted to hear impeaching evidence of Lindsay’s prior murder conviction at Defendant’s trial,” according to the motion. “Lindsay was convicted of murdering a woman in the State of Illinois in 1990. Defendant’s appeal of this impeachment issue was heard by the South Carolina Court of Appeals, who determined that the trial judge erred and the jury should have heard details of Lindsay’s prior murder conviction. However, the South Carolina Court of Appeals did not overturn Defendant’s conviction, holding that the trial judge’s error was harmless pursuant to South Carolina law.
Bennett filed for post-conviction relief “based on ineffective assistance of counsel,” says the motion. Post-conviction relief was grand on August 14, 2014.
On May 5, 2016, Bennett was appointed counsel for a retrial, the motion adds. “However, the State failed to prosecute Defendant’s case or produce complete discovery, and appointed counsel fail to investigate on behalf of Defendant, for nearly one year. As a result, the undersigned counsel took Defendant’s case pro bono in June 2017.”
“Since June 2017, through her independent investigation of this case, the undersigned counsel has discovered gross misconduct by the Horry County Police Department and malicious prosecution by the Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office that the State concealed from Defendant while Defendant’s charges were pending, during his first trial, during his appeal, and during his PCR proceedings.”
The full motion can be read here.
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