A former Fort Worth police officer has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in an off-duty road-rage shooting on Interstate 35W in September 2024, according to court records. The plea was entered today after administrative and criminal investigations that ultimately cost him his job. A Tarrant County jury is now set to decide his punishment at a hearing scheduled for August 12.
According to WFAA, court documents show the defendant, identified in earlier reporting as William Martin, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and chose to have a jury decide his punishment. The station reports that the plea stems from a September 3, 2024, encounter on I-35W that left another driver wounded but alive.
Shooting on I‑35W
The Fort Worth Police Department’s Major Case Unit investigated the incident after Martin, who was off duty, reported a hit-and-run and followed the other vehicle. In a Fort Worth Police Department release, the agency said investigators found probable cause for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and that an arrest warrant was signed. The release also states that the driver who was struck was taken to a hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening.
Affidavit differences and witnesses
An arrest affidavit obtained by FOX4 spells out Martin’s account that he was boxed in, feared being run over, and then opened fire, alongside summaries of investigators’ interviews. FOX4 reports that detectives spoke with 14 witnesses who told them they did not believe Martin faced an imminent threat when he pulled the trigger. Those gaps between the affidavit and witness statements sit at the heart of the criminal case against the former officer.
Termination and past controversy
The city fired Martin after an administrative investigation concluded that his use of force in the freeway shooting was unjustified. Records show he had been with the department for 19 years. As reported by The Dallas Morning News, the termination followed both his criminal arrest and the internal probe.
The same outlet notes that Martin was the officer involved in a viral 2016 arrest of Jacqueline Craig, which led to a $150,000 settlement with the city. Craig later died in 2023, according to The Dallas Morning News.
How sentencing will be decided
Under Texas procedure, a defendant who pleads guilty in a felony case can choose to have a jury rather than a judge decide punishment if the proper election is made. That option is set out in Texas Code of Criminal Procedure § 37.07, which also governs what types of evidence can come in during the punishment phase…