LUBBOCK, Texas — One day in February 1998 changed Garland “Butch” Martin’s life forever. Not only did his family die in a house fire, but he was charged for a crime he didn’t commit and would spend the next two decades in prison. This all came to an end 24 years later, when the Innocence Project of Texas was able to prove Martin’s innocence .
Martin’s wife, Marcia, their one-year-old daughter and Marcia’s three-year-old son died after their home caught fire in 1998. Even though Martin was at a job site twenty minutes away from the house, he was tried and convicted in 1999 on three capital murder charges.
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At the time, science indicated that the fire was intentionally set and the last person to see the family alive was the father of the family, Butch Martin.
“Martin protested his innocence the entire time. There was never any kind of motive but nevertheless, the jury couldn’t ignore the science, and they found him guilty,” Deputy Director of the Innocence Project of Texas, Allison Clayton said. “The science now indicates that this was just a tragic, horrible, accidental house fire.”