3 Georgia deputies who tased man are found not guilty of murder, jury rules
Three Washington County sheriff’s deputies have been acquitted of murder, as a jury found them not to be criminally at fault for the death of Eurie Martin, a man who died after the officers tased him in 2017.
A little over a day after jurors began deliberations, they told the judge they could not reach a unanimous verdict on all charges in the cases against former deputies Rhett Scott, Henry Lee Copeland and Michael Howell. However, they did find all three of them not guilty of murder, they ruled Thursday afternoon.
Martin died after an altercation with the three deputies in Sandersville, who were called to confront Martin after a local resident had called 911 to report a suspicious person, according to court testimony. Martin had heart disease and schizophrenia, two conditions that the deputies say they weren’t aware of at the time of the incident.
Martin was uncooperative with deputies, attempting to walk away from them as they tried to confront him, according to court testimony. He also threw a can on the ground during the altercation, according to court testimony.
The jurors did reach a verdict on all counts for Scott, who was acquitted on all charges. The jury was able to reach a verdict on two counts for Copeland and Howell, acquitting both of them of murder and aggravated assault. They were unable to decide if Howell and Copeland should be convicted of involuntary manslaughter or reckless conduct.
Jurors believed Howell and Copeland were not guilty of murder and aggravated assault, but couldn’t unanimously agree on whether the two should be convicted of involuntary manslaughter or reckless conduct, so a mistrial was declared on those charges.
It is possible that Howell and Copeland could be tried again on the charges for which jurors could not reach a verdict.
Taser didn’t contribute to Martin’s death, jury rules
Jurors weren’t convinced that being tased was the direct cause of Martin’s death, which Assistant District Attorney George Lipscomb tried to convince them over the course of the trial. A coroner’s report referenced in the trial showed that Martin had died from a cardiac arrhythmia during police restraint, but didn’t mention the use of a taser.
The attorneys for the former deputies — Shawn Merzlak, Pierce Blitch and Mark Shaefer — argued that it was Martin’s own stress during the situation that led to his death, rather than the taser. The lawyers contended that the deputies were unaware of Martin’s mental health issues, but at the end of the day, he was violating the law, and he was resisting an arrest, according to testimony in court.
The case has been an eight-year-long judicial battle as prosecutors have attempted to take the case to trial. The deputies were initially declared immune from prosecution under the Stand Your Ground law, but the decision was reversed by the Georgia Supreme Court in 2020.
A year later, their first trial ended in a mistrial after jurors weren’t able to unanimously agree on a verdict.
‘They’re killing me’
Martin left his home in Milledgeville and trekked 30 miles to Sandersville on July 7, 2017, coming to a stop on Deepstep Road, where he asked a local resident for water. A resident refused Martin water, then called 911 dispatchers and reported Martin to be a “suspicious person,” according to testimony in court.
Howell was first to interact with Martin, but was stunned by Martin being uncooperative, according to court testimony. His concern for the situation led him to call for backup, with Copeland coming in. An argument ensued between the three. Representatives for the deputies argued that Martin had violated the law by walking away from and ignoring deputies’ commands, so Copeland and Howell were justified in using their tasers to subdue him and arrest him, according to testimony.
However, Martin continued struggling and ripped off the prongs of the taser. By this time, Scott arrived. Scott was told by Howell that he was tased, but that he would need to be tased again to subdue him, so Scott quickly tased Martin again, according to testimony.
During the incident, Martin was scared and begging them to stop, according to court testimony. One of the last things he said was “They’re killing me, they’re killing me!”
After the three deputies’ struggled, they eventually put handcuffs on Martin. However, he died some minutes later from a heart attack caused by police restraint, according to court testimony.
This story was originally published November 20, 2025 at 5:04 PM.
