Concealed-carry permit holder acquitted in fatal shooting at Far East Side gas station

A Franklin County jury decided Friday that a 32-year-old man with a concealed-carry permit was acting in self defense when he fatally shot another man during a confrontation at a Far East Side gas station.

Nehemiah Martin of the Far East Side was acquitted of murder charges in the Jan. 22 shooting death of 31-year-old Brandon Clark.

The jury deliberated for less than three hours before returning the not-guilty verdict to Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Colleen O’Donnell.

Although murder cases rarely go to trial in less than a year even without the Covid-19 pandemic, Martin refused to waive his statutory right to a speedy trial while in jail on a $1 million bond, which meant prosecutors had to bring the case to trial within 90 days.

“Nehimah was in jail on a sky-high bond,” his attorney, Sam Shamansky, told The Dispatch. “We felt that we would be fully available to proceed within the speedy trial guidelines and felt a delay would be prejudicial to my client. Usually the passage of time works to the benefit of the defendant, so this was counterintuitive.”

Shamansky, a veteran Columbus defense attorney, said he has never tried a murder case so soon after the date of the incident.

Testimony during the weeklong trial revealed that Martin went to the Shell station in the 5900 block of East Main Street, near McNaughten Road, on Jan. 22 for a pre-arranged meeting to pick up his twin boys from the children’s mother.

Martin testified that he was trying to remove the children from their car seats when he was assaulted by Clark, the mother’s live-in boyfriend, who had accompanied her to the gas station.

Martin, who was lawfully carrying a concealed handgun, said he was being beaten so savagely by Clark that he pulled his gun and fired one shot in self-defense.

Clark was struck in the abdomen. He was transported in critical condition to Mount Carmel East hospital, where he died the next morning.

After the shooting, Martin went to his grandmother’s house, where Columbus police arrested him after he called 911 to report the incident.

The mother of Martin’s twin boys testified against him and in support of her late boyfriend during the trial.

Clark had been released from prison just four months before his death after serving a six-year sentence for a kidnapping conviction in Franklin County, court records show.