New trial for Martin requested
Dublin Core
Title
New trial for Martin requested
Injury to his brain not reported to jury
Subject
Capital punishment--Florida.
Capital punishment--United States--Psychological aspects.
Description
Newspaper report on the 1985 request for a new trial for Nollie Lee Martin, convicted of murder in 1978. Martin's lawyers, including Michael Mello, cite the defendant's pre-existing brain damage in their request.
Creator
The Associated Press
Source
The Evening Times
Publisher
HIST 298, University of Mary Washington
Date
1985-03-14
Rights
The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source.
Format
1 JPG
300 dpi
Language
English
Coverage
Atlanta, GA
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
ATLANTA—Lawyers for convicted murderer Nollie Lee Martin asked a federal appeals court to grant him a new trial, claiming evidence of their client’s damaged brain didn’t come out until after the 1978 trial.
Martin was condemned to death for the rape and murder of college student Patricia Greenfield of Boynton Beach.
Testimony by psychiatrists at the original trial indicated he was sane and had not suffered brain damage, attorney Michael Mello said, but “in fact, Mr. Martin is missing part of his brain.”
Wednesday, Mello told a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Martin’s injury, which happened when he was run over by a wagon wheel, did not come to light until after the trial. Because the jurors who convicted Martin and recommended the death penalty did not know about the brain damage, they were operating under a false assumption, he argued.
Marint, 36, of Chapel Hill, N.C., was convicted of murder in the June 1977 death of Ms. Greenfield, a college student who was working at a Delray Beach store.
Martin and co-defendant Gary Forbes were accused of robbing the store, abducting Miss Greenfield, raping her at Martin’s apartment and then taking her to a landfill near Lantana, where she was fatally stabbed in the throat.
Forbes pleaded guilty to murder and testified at Martin’s trial.
Martin’s conviction and death sentence were upheld by the Supreme Court of Florida in 1982, and he lost an appeal in U.S. District Court last year. That decision was appealed to the 11th Circuit.
In addition to the issue of brain damage, Mello told the appeals court that two confessions made by Martin after his arrest in July 1977 were invalid.
“We maintain that both confessions were obtained in violation of (Martin’s) Miranda (rights), both were involuntary and the second was obtained in violation of Mr. Martin’s 6th Amendment right to counsel,” he said.
But Joan Fowler Rossin, an assistant Florida attorney general, argued that the confessions were valid. Martin “was not threatened, he was not made any promises and he was not coerced,” she said.
She also argued that Martin was given adequate neurological and psychiatric evaluations before the trial.
Martin was condemned to death for the rape and murder of college student Patricia Greenfield of Boynton Beach.
Testimony by psychiatrists at the original trial indicated he was sane and had not suffered brain damage, attorney Michael Mello said, but “in fact, Mr. Martin is missing part of his brain.”
Wednesday, Mello told a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Martin’s injury, which happened when he was run over by a wagon wheel, did not come to light until after the trial. Because the jurors who convicted Martin and recommended the death penalty did not know about the brain damage, they were operating under a false assumption, he argued.
Marint, 36, of Chapel Hill, N.C., was convicted of murder in the June 1977 death of Ms. Greenfield, a college student who was working at a Delray Beach store.
Martin and co-defendant Gary Forbes were accused of robbing the store, abducting Miss Greenfield, raping her at Martin’s apartment and then taking her to a landfill near Lantana, where she was fatally stabbed in the throat.
Forbes pleaded guilty to murder and testified at Martin’s trial.
Martin’s conviction and death sentence were upheld by the Supreme Court of Florida in 1982, and he lost an appeal in U.S. District Court last year. That decision was appealed to the 11th Circuit.
In addition to the issue of brain damage, Mello told the appeals court that two confessions made by Martin after his arrest in July 1977 were invalid.
“We maintain that both confessions were obtained in violation of (Martin’s) Miranda (rights), both were involuntary and the second was obtained in violation of Mr. Martin’s 6th Amendment right to counsel,” he said.
But Joan Fowler Rossin, an assistant Florida attorney general, argued that the confessions were valid. Martin “was not threatened, he was not made any promises and he was not coerced,” she said.
She also argued that Martin was given adequate neurological and psychiatric evaluations before the trial.
Contributor of the Digital Item
Sellers, Jason
Student Editor of the Digital Item
Williams, Megan
Files
Citation
The Associated Press, “New trial for Martin requested,” HIST299, accessed March 12, 2026, https://hist299.umwhistory.org/items/show/89.