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State v. Coffin10/6/1999
offin, he saw Chris Martinez Sr. reach in his pocket for a weapon. As a result, Coffin pulled out his gun and told the Martinezes to get back in their car. Coffin testified that Chris Martinez Jr. braced his father with his arm and, although the father did not seem to care about Coffin's gun, they turned back toward their car. According to Coffin's testimony, after Coffin started to return to his mini-van, the Martinezes then turned back around and approached him in an aggressive manner. Coffin testified that he "was afraid of getting attacked, possibly dead" and that, because his earlier attempt to break up the fight had failed, he "panicked" and started firing his gun at "pretty much both of them." Following the shooting, Coffin drove away from Sal's in the mini-van with Deanda Montoya and Gutierrez, the latter of whom had exited Sal's immediately after the shots were fired.
{6} Other witnesses told somewhat different versions of the altercation between Coffin and the Martinezes. Leo Gonzales, who was sitting in a truck in the parking lot, testified that Coffin was near his mini-van with Ronnie Contreras. The Martinezes pulled up in the parking lot near Coffin's mini-van, and after Chris Martinez Jr. got out of his car, he and Coffin started arguing. Leo Gonzales testified that Coffin was shouting and that Chris Martinez Jr. tried to stop the argument by putting up his hand and saying, "It's cool man." Gonzales testified that Chris Martinez Jr. did not appear to be acting in a threatening manner. During the argument, Chris Martinez Sr. got out of his car, and according to Gonzales, "that's when it got worse." As Chris Martinez Sr. joined the argument, he was walking in an aggressive manner, and Coffin pulled out his gun and fired several shots. Gonzales testified that, after hearing the first shot, he directed his attention to trying to get his companion, Johnny Lucero, to drive away from Sal's, but Gonzales looked back in the side mirror on the passenger side of Lucero's truck and saw Coffin pointing his gun at the ground while he continued to fire.
{7} According to Deanda Montoya, who was in the back of the mini-van during the entire incident, there was nobody else outside the van after Gutierrez and Saldana went inside Sal's and nobody yelled out Ronnie Contreras's name. After Coffin got out of the van, Montoya did not pay attention to what was happening until she heard a gunshot. At that point, she looked outside the van and saw one person lying on the ground and another standing. Coffin told the man who was standing to get back into his car, and as the man started to turn around to return to the car, Coffin shot him more than once and shot him again after he fell to the ground.
{8} The police arrived at Sal's to find two bodies, both lying on their back. Emergency personnel attempted to resuscitate Chris Martinez Sr. and transported him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead after about twenty minutes of life-saving efforts. Medical personnel pronounced Chris Martinez Jr. dead at the scene. Near the location where the police discovered Chris Martinez Sr., the police found a small pocket knife, opened, lying on the ground. Doctor Julia Goodin, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsies on both Martinezes, testified at trial concerning their gunshot wounds. Chris Martinez Sr. received two gunshot wounds, one on the left side of the head near the ear, traveling slightly front to back and left to right and lodging at the base of the skull and brain. The second gunshot wound was in the left chest area near the armpit, traveling right to left. Mr. Martinez Sr. had a blood alcohol level of .269 percent. Chris Martinez Jr. received four gunshot wounds: one to the left si
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