Will boxer Christy Martin drop bombshells in trial?
Orange County deputies hunted James Martin for a week, after his wounded wife flagged down a motorist on Nov. 23, 2010, saying she had been attacked by her husband.
She had been seriously wounded by James Martin in their home, deputies said, but was able to flee. James Martin was found hiding in a shed blocks from the home a week later.
Christy Martin has said she is willing to testify, and attorneys for both sides prepared for that possibility Monday, debating possible topics of questioning.
Among those discussed was Christy Martin’s drug use. In a deposition, she testified that her husband supplied her with cocaine, and she quit days before the shooting.
The drug, she said, caused paranoid thoughts. Her husband’s lawyer, William Hancock, said testimony like that could factor into a self-defense argument at trial. The judge agreed.
In her deposition, Christy Martin says her husband blackmailed her into marrying himby holding her hostage with videotapes of sexual activities and threats to expose her sexual orientation.
She said she didn’t “want him to tell the boxing world that I was a lesbian.”
She said James Martin had previously threatened to kill her if she left him.
Martin, 68, is charged with attempted first-degree murder and faces up to life in prison if convicted.