An auto mechanic determined there was nothing wrong with Michael Martin's car on the night his father-in-law was killed, and cellphone records revealed Martin didn't set out for Donegal until an hour before the murder, witnesses testified Thursday.
Martin, 41, of Fallowfield in Washington County, claims he killed Earl Weygandt, 67, in self-defense on Aug. 7, 2013. His father-in-law, who had come to help when Martin's Jeep broke down on Route 31, pulled out a gun, Martin contends.
On Thursday, during the fourth day of Martin's murder trial before Westmoreland County Judge Chris Feliciani, the prosecution tried to prove that Martin planned the attack and lured Weygandt into a deadly ambush near Donegal.
James Wilson, a mechanic with Tri-Star Motors in Murrysville, testified investigators had him check Martin's Jeep for any mechanical problems that would support his story.
“Visually, everything checked out OK. I didn't see any problems,” Wilson testified.
He said Martin's Jeep started without incident, and its computer indicated the battery operated perfectly. There was no evidence that the car overheated or that the battery failed, Wilson told jurors.
In several statements he gave to police, Martin said he spent the day of the murder working in Uniontown and was driving home about 8 p.m. when his Jeep broke down from overheating or battery failure. He contends he phoned Weygandt, who was living at a Donegal campsite, for help.
Glenn Bard, a private consultant who specializes in cellphone data, testified records indicate Martin's phone was in Charleroi at 8:30 p.m. and moved east toward Donegal during the next hour.
Martin called Weygandt's phone at 9:23 p.m. from Donegal, and Weygandt returned the call a minute later, Bard told jurors.
Weygandt's body was found less than an hour later in his smoking vehicle.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht testified Weygandt suffered nine stab wounds, three to his neck that severed his trachea and jugular vein. One of the three knife wounds in his chest severed his aorta, Wecht said.
“Six of the nine wounds would have been fatal,” Wecht testified, saying Weygandt likely remained conscious no more than 30 seconds after he was stabbed.
Weygandt was drunk at the time he was killed, according to Wecht. His blood-alcohol level was 0.22 percent, or nearly three times the level at which a motorist in Pennsylvania is considered to be intoxicated.
Jurors on Thursday saw video of the first half of a police interview lasting more than two hours in which Martin claimed he was not with Weygandt when he was killed.
“I didn't do anything, man. I swear to God, man,” Martin told police.
Martin told investigators he was with a friend in Uniontown and that another friend came to fix his car after Weygandt didn't respond to his call for help.
Investigators challenged Martin's statement and confronted him with information that his friends eventually wouldn't confirm his alibi.
Earlier in the interrogation, Martin conceded he and Weygandt had been at odds and that his father-in-law made threats when he called for help that night.
“... He was being real belligerent, talking about ... shooting people. ‘I got a gun. I'm gonna shoot people. I ain't taking this ... no more,' ” Martin told police.
Earlier in the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Weygandt had a loaded gun at the time of the killing, but it had not been fired.
Witnesses also told jurors that Weygandt recently had cut off financial support to his stepdaughter and Martin.
When the trial resumes Friday, jurors are expected to watch the second half of Martin's interrogation, in which he changes his story and claims he killed Weygandt in self-defense, according to prosecutors.
Rich Cholodofsky is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.
