NCFM has an update in the case of Army Major Kit Martin about the November 2015 unsolved triple homicide in Pembroke, Kentucky. One of the murder victims was Calvin Phillips, a married man involved in an extramarital sexual affair with Major Martin’s dangerous, bigamist, convicted felon, lying and conniving ex-wife; Joan Harmon-Guerra.
Followers of the Major Christian “Kit” Martin saga may recall Harmon-Guerra accused him of child abuse, sexual assault, even international spying. Because of politically correct pressure to end sexual assaults in the military, Major Martin suffered undue command influence, albeit a General more concerned with his career than standing tall for his soldiers. After thorough investigations, civilian authorities cleared him of Harmon-Guerra’s accusations. Then, the Army piled on even more charges a year and a half later. Fortunately, in this case, truth prevailed. At courts-martial, Major Martin was acquitted of hateful Harmon-Guerra’s false, malicious and ruinous accusations.Regardless, Army prosecutors had to save face, and Major Martin fell to two minor trumped-up misdemeanors. He then spent several weeks incarcerated at Ft. Leavenworth, forfeited pay and benefits, and was dismissed from the Army (dishonorably discharged).
Phillips became a key defense witness in Major Martin’s courts-martial, but was murdered before the courts-martial began. Police found him dead by gunshot wounds, at home, in his basement, directly across the street from Major Martin’s house.
Also found dead were Phillip’s wife Pam and their neighbor, Ed Dansereau. Both discovered shot dead in Pam’s torched Nissan so badly burned initial identification was impossible.
Soon after the discovery of Phillips body, Army agents from the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) Fort Campbell were at the scene. How or why the CID knew about the homicides and became involved so quickly or who ordered their involvement is still a mystery.
A little over 24 hours after the discovery of the three bodies, local authorities and a SWAT team raided Major Martin’s home with much fanfare, television news crews in tow. Army CID agents joined in the search, which is prohibited by the Posse Comitatus Act. Witnesses observed, and a home surveillance system caught the CID agents entering the house.
Police knew Major Martin was at work on base. They knew his only family member at home was his fiancé. They even confirmed her children were at school before breaking into the house. Unless Army personnel duped the police, local authorities had no reason to raid with a SWAT team. A simple knock on the door should have sufficed, unless, of course, they argue that they believed Major Martin’s fiancé would frantically run around destroying incriminating evidence between the time they knocked on the door and gained entry, which is absurd given the circumstances.
Had they done so, just knocked, much of the trauma experienced by Major Martin’s fiancé would have been avoided. Instead, they stormed the house with a heavily armed SWAT team, did serious damage to the house and terrified her. Police embarrassed her in front of her curious — if not shocked — friends and neighbors, hauled her off barefoot to the police station, and continued to intimidate her. She was cooperative but refused to make a statement without her attorney. The police released her in Hopkinsville several miles from her home without identification, money or even a cell phone. Eventually, a friend helped her to reunite with her children, who she could not get because the police confiscated her car along with Major Martin’s Toyota pickup.
Just before the raid on his home, CID agents detained Major Martin at gunpoint. They confiscated Major Martin’s late model Nissan-Infiniti and personal items inside, including his briefcase and laptop computer, the latter two of which contained critical and protected attorney-client relationship materials along with evidence for his defense. None of his confiscated property has been returned even though his attorneys petitioned for its release. Consequently, critical materials at courts-martial were denied Major Martin for his defense.
We believe CID agents or JAG prosecutors reviewed and made copies of the briefcase contents and computer hard-drive, allowing them direct insight as to his defense strategy and evidence. Major Martin has never received a list of the property taken or chain of custody reports. Consequently, it is reasonable to believe the property and evidence has been reworked, corrupted or even destroyed to bolster dishonest investigative and prosecutorial efforts against Major Martin.
This is serious business ill-suited for Keystone Cop machinations. Given the circumstances, it is conceivable the civilian law and military law enforcement may be setting up Major Martin for false arrest, bodily harm or even some sort of accidental death in a jail cell, police car, or elsewhere for a contrived escape or resisting arrest.
On August 16, 2016, about ten months later after the first raid on Major Martin’s home, authorities again searched and trashed the same house, even though it was unoccupied. The Martin family had not lived there or in Kentucky for several weeks. Witnesses told Major Martin that Kentucky State Police (KSP) officers and CID agents conducted the search.
Why or who provided information that led to the issuance of the warrant is unknown. Moreover, why the mid-night raid instead of daylight? Could it be the authorities tried to avoid the witnesses this time around?
The house is for sale. The damage done devalued the property significantly. Both of which the police and Army investigators knew or should have known, especially since there was a realtor lockbox on the backdoor the authorities destroyed to gain access. Insurance adjusters concluded the damage was ‘catastrophic’ estimating repairs to be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Walls torn out, wooden floors gouged, plumbing pipes ripped from walls, and near priceless imported antique furniture demolished. From the damage, it seems the authorities partied hard in the Martin house and went the extra mile to cause as much damage and destruction as they could.
Since no one lived in the house for ten months, all kinds of people were in and out of the building including the police, CID agents, forensic teams, technicians, movers, real estate agents and even their clients. Maybe the house was even accessed surreptitiously by Major Martin’s bigamist ex-wife Joan Harmon-Guerra, someone in her household, one of her boyfriend(s), or even the police or Army investigators. Neighbors reported seeing a uniformed deputy walking around the property two days before the latest raid. Who was that? What was the deputy doing there? The police, Army personnel, Harmon-Guerra, one of her boyfriends, or someone else she knows could have easily planted evidence against Major Martin in the house.
Such excessive force is unnerving, perhaps illegal, if not psychotic. Civilian and military authorities must know Major Martin is not the murderer. They have his laptop computer, all of his defense documents including attorney-client protected information, and an audio recording of an interview of Phillips with private investigators. Consequently, they knew and know Phillips tired of Harmon-Guerra dangerous manipulations, turned against her, and became Major Martin’s most powerful courts-martial witness.
Authorities also have Major Martin’s surveillance system video showing him at home at the time of the murders. The video may mysteriously become unusable, corrupted, or indiscernible. Obviously, Major Martin had every reason to want Phillips alive and no reason to want Pam or Dansereau dead.
So who does? Who wanted Phillips dead and may have had a reason to murder his wife and friend Dansereau? Army prosecutors wanted Phillips gone since he became a star witness for Major Martin instead of the prosecution. Phillips testimony would have assured lying convicted felon and bigamist Joan Harmon-Guerra would lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in victim compensation payola from the government if Major Martin were not convicted of her salacious sexual assault accusations.
Moreover, Army prosecutors knew she habitually lied, and lied BIG, often! For example, she told Army investigators (and many others) that before his birth, her first son’s father was decapitated in a logging accident. Without backup from Phillips, prosecutors could not allow Joan-Harmon to testify; she simply was not credible.
As an aside, Major Martin’s investigators located her son’s father, head still attached. Additionally, he explained Harmon-Guerra, abandoned the relationship and kidnapped their son. Investigators arranged a recorded telephone interview with him and Army Special Victim Prosecutor, Major Jacob Bashore. In that conversation, he told of Harmon-Guerra’s history of lies, violence, and drug use. At the end of the interview, Bashore asked the man if he had anything further to add and his response was, “what can I tell you, she’s the devil.” Regardless, Bashore continued his relentless prosecution of Major Martin.
Adding insult to serious injury, Harmon-Guerra recently petitioned for child support from the man in two states. We suspect she forgot to tell child support authorities about his missing head, or that she illegally absconded with their baby boy. We also suspect one or both of the states will grant her request and again abuse the father of her first son, retroactively no less to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars including penalty and interest. At least the she-devil lost her victim compensation payola pot of gold.
During the last week of August 2016, a KSP officer called Major Martin’s family members trying to find him. Family members told Major Martin, who in turn told one of his defense attorneys. The attorney called the KSP and learned they wanted to know where Major Martin was so they could serve another search warrant for some sort of biological evidence. The attorney asked the investigator to send him the warrant, which he committed to deliver to Major Martin. Thus far, there has been no response from the KSP nor have follow-up calls from Major Martin’s investigators been returned.
Local police claiming they have ‘another’ search warrant for biological evidence is beyond odd. Major Martin’s DNA is on file with the national registry and assessable. Moreover, Major Martin gave DNA three separate times after Harmon-Guerra’s false accusations. Where is his DNA, is it being planted somewhere?
So why the third search warrant, if there is one? Is the KSP just harassing Major Martin and his family members? The KSP knows or should know he’s not a murderer. Have they been duped, manipulated or coerced by Army authorities? Are they scurrying around trying to save face after bungling a triple homicide investigation? Is it possible one or more law enforcement officers have a direct or indirect relationship with Harmon-Guerra?
What here hides under the color of law? It certainly appears a pattern of harassment and intimidation exists, which in practice is clearly illegal and unconstitutional, as applicable.
Kentucky State Police officers recently interviewed neighbors of Major Martin and Phillips, a full eight months after the triple homicide. Can you imagine taking that long to interview witnesses of any violent crime, let alone a triple murder? It is inconceivable! Keystone Cops, or is something provincially sinister and corrupt working against Major Martin?
Major Martin’s former lead defense counsel, William Summers, with 46 years’ experience in criminal law, when he learned of the latest ‘raid’ on Major Martin’s house, said:
Anyone who has watched more than three episodes of CSI Miami would know that anything found during that search would be totally inadmissible. If they claim that evidence of the crime was found, it would have had to been planted; without question.
A veteran major city retired homicide detective familiar with the case quipped:
This kind of police work is embarrassing. I thought this level of incompetence and buffoonery had been corrected in the 60’s, and it is clear that the local cops are being led by the nose by Army CID agents from Fort Campbell, who seem to have taken Major Martin’s case personally and are hell bent to make his life miserable, anyway they can, because they can. Of course, they are reaching for straws, and this is a clear example of the collusion between Army CID agents, JAG prosecutors, and their civilian counterparts, in effect to terrorize and harass Major Martin and his family. What’s next, are they trying to set him up to kill him?
A former JAG officer now in private practice added:
The Army is pissed that they didn’t get Major Martin for the manufactured and trumped up sexual assault charges and they are hell-bent on making his life miserable because they can.”
Another former military officer familiar with the case commented:
“It would not surprise me that someone higher up in the Army food chain had Calvin Phillips killed. His testimony could have brought down the military’s entire sexual assault witch hunt. With so many people in the witch hunt industry and hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, a manufactured case like this would have turned the whole military sexual assault epidemic and its witch hunt on its ear. The narrative has to be protected at all costs, even murder.”
Yet another prominent legal professional knowledgeable of the case said:
With all of the scandalous things that have happened in that county; a recent cold case of cops committing murder and cops in Christian County covering it up, and the seemingly outlandish incompetence of sheriff’s personnel, it would seem likely that a federal agency that goes by certain letters of the alphabet would already have the Christian County Sheriff’s Department on the radar.
In sum, highly regarded, awarded, competent, well liked, and decorated, Major Martin was wrongfully convicted of two trumped-up misdemeanors so the Army could save its politically correct face and one General could protect his career. Major Martin spent over two months in confinement, lost pay and benefits, his retirement, and dishonorably discharged (dismissed). Disrespected, damaged, and destroyed, were his family, home, and property, respectively. He was given no property receipt or chain of custody report. Major Martin’s fiancé even had to quit her prestigious teaching position at a local university. Authorities constantly monitor Major Martin and his family at social, sporting, and other events. Major Martin’ and his family’s reputations are scared irrevocably. Moreover, he is financially ruined. Now, authorities are hounding him for murders he did not commit. All caused by the false accusations of one Joan Harmon-Guerra.
The evil abuse, chaos, corruption, danger, deaths, devastation, destruction, financial ruin, havoc, malfeasance, terror and violence caused by liar Joan Harmon-Guerra and her Kentucky law enforcement and Army enablers is inescapable, incalculable and otherwise unconscionable; yet, she escapes unscathed, free to abuse again leaving a trail of shattered lives in her path. The abandoned father of the child she kidnapped said it best, “she’s the devil.”
For perspective, let’s take a closer look at law enforcement corruption in Christian County and Kentucky.
Soon after Joan Harmon-Guerra ended her extra-marital sexual affair with Calvin Phillips, she took up and moved in with a local truck driver, William Stokes, along with her three kids.
We don’t know how friendly of “friends” they are, but isn’t it odd that Stokes, is or was living with the one person on the planet with a lengthy list of reasons to want Phillips dead, and that he’s also a Facebook friend with the chief law enforcement officer in the county?
The CCSD employs Detective Lieutenant Ed Stokes, presumably homicide unit supervisor, which implies he is in charge of investigating the triple homicide.
Isn’t it even more odd that Detective Stokes is the brother of Harmon-Guerra’s boyfriend William Stokes? Close relationships, which show clear, blatant and incestuous conflicts of interest, suggesting illicit collusion?
Then there’s the earlier graveyard theft and destruction debacle. New owners of a local cemetery allegedly removed brass placards from graves and sold them for scrap. Below is a screen shot from Commonwealth Attorney and Chief Prosecutor Lynn Pryor’s Newsletter.
After two hours of deliberation, the jury found both Not Guilty on all counts.
Defense attorneys Thomas Osborne and Rick Boling knew Deputy Stokes had a pending lawsuit against their clients, Jason and Taunya Straker, because Deputy Stokes’ mothers’ brass placard was missing from her grave marker and ostensibly sold. Deputy Stokes was the investigating officer in the case. Osborne insinuated Deputy Stokes and prosecutor Pryor were romantically involved, and that she fast-tracked the prosecution to favor Deputy Stokes.
Clearly, a conflict since Stokes could financially gain from his pending lawsuit, as well as his relationship with Pryor. The latter of which may help explain fast-tracking the case and 46 counts of Violating Graves, the latter of which could be viewed as “over-charging” or “heaping.” Apparently, according to Osborne, Deputy Stokes even intimidated the Straders at their place of business. The Straders were acquitted.
Attorney Osborne reportedly said Stokes was,
“uniquely situated not to be fair or impartial” as the lead investigator in the case… He would march up and down in front of the (cemetery’s) office like a bull, snorted, and he would ask (the Straders) if they knew who he was? Did they know what job he had…”
Pictured at left, Detective Stokes & prosecutor Lynn Pryor in white. Photo by Kentucky New Era
Never should Deputy Stokes been assigned the graveyard case, assuming the Sherriff knew of Stokes’ pending civil suit against the accused. Regardless, Deputy Stokes should have distanced himself from the investigation.
Chief prosecutor Lynn Pryor should have recused herself because of her romantic relationship with Deputy Stokes, real or perceived. Is it possible Pryor’s relationship with Deputy Stokes as well as their relationship(s) with Ft. Campbell and KSP personnel caused the harassing tunnel vision focus on Major Martin for the murders? To our knowledge and inconceivably, Harmon-Guerra is not even a suspect!
Local media spotlighted Major Martin without any finger-pointing at Harmon-Guerra, which is mind-blowing considering national media often devotes considerable time to just one salacious homicide. Remember, we are talking about three related murders, a triple-homicide, surrounded by false accusations of sexual assault, child abuse, and international spying involving a highly decorated Army officer in good standing. Yet there has been little or no interest from the likes of 60 Minutes, Dateline, the New York Times, major networks, not even Kentucky’s’ major newspapers. Is not that curious?
Here, under the color of law, provincialism seems to rain a deadly pattern and practice of close-knit corruption reaching high and wide. Is there some type of nefarious good old boys’ and girls’ network in Christian County, between local cops, prosecutors and their U.S. Army counterparts at Fort Campbell? How far does it go? Aside from the above, convicted of cocaine distribution and other crimes was a former Christian County Sheriff. Two former Kentucky police officers are awaiting trial in a case involving extortion and the murders of two prostitutes. Another police chief in the local area and a subordinate relieved of duty while under investigation for drug-related crimes. Yet, even another local police chief was charged with cocaine distribution.
Harvard University’s Center for Ethics conducted a study in 2014 and determined that Kentucky was one of the most corrupt states in the U.S. In July 2015, the Louisville FBI Field Office issued a press release and launched the “End Corruption Now” campaign, asking the public to help root out corruption in Kentucky.
One of two United States Attorneys for Kentucky; Mr. John E. Kuhn Jr. was quoted as saying:
“I can promise you this; if public corruption is reported, it will be investigated. If the investigation reveals evidence of a federal crime, it will be prosecuted.”
We hope that is true. The examples of government abuse, excess, and overreach; both military and civilian, in the case of Major Martin are stunningly frightening. Whatever justifications civilian and military authorities give, if any, about how they handled Major Martin’s case, they cannot prove their actions were honest, objective, reasonable, or ethical, under any circumstance. So, what do you think? Are Kentucky Keystone Cops and corrupt Army agents trying to kill Major Martin, or just harassing and terrorizing him? Regardless, their behavior is disgustingly wrongheaded.
We will bring your more information as it develops.
Article originally published September 9, 2016, By NCFM. EDs
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References
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/20/2-cops-indicted-in-4-ky-brothel-killings.html
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/21/justice/kentucky-prostitute-murders-cold-case/
http://www.kentuckynewera.com/news/courts/article_4352a88a-1c44-11e4-bfea-0019bb2963f4.html
http://wkms.org/post/hopkinsville-cemetery-owners-indicted-stealing-tomb-markers#stream/0
http://www.christiancountyso.com/about/staff/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/31/fbi-enlisting-public-help-to-uncover-corruption-in/
http://openjurist.org/960/f2d/587/united-states-v-sivils
http://clarksvillenow.com/local/oak-grove-police-chief-fired-following-ksp-investigation/
