Jurors began deliberating Thursday in the murder trial of an Atwater woman who admitted to police that she shot her longtime partner in the head at a Ceres motel. Her attorney says the couple’s young son was actually the shooter.
Zella Latrice Holmes, 41, is charged with murder in the Sept. 25, 2025, death of Franklin Martin, 38, inside Room 230 of the Howard Johnson on Herndon Road. Prosecutors allege Holmes deliberately shot Martin at close range as he lay on a bed with their son, who was 6 at the time.
Holmes also is charged with felony child endangerment and felony evading a peace officer stemming from what happened after she left the motel…