I think like a lot of people, I suspected from the outset that this was a case of premeditated murder, and was certainly never self defence. During the original trial, and in posts here back in 2017, I was desperate to know just how big or small the paving stone/brick used to kill Jason was. When I finally saw the size and shape of that object, I was totally convinced. It was not something you would keep beside the bed to remind you you had planned to help the kids paint it in the coming days.
It was not something cutesey or curious or interesting enough to be an object you would even want to paint, in my opinion. The crime scene photos show an irregular shaped, solid brick, about twice as big as a normal adults hand. I didn't think then, and I don't think now, that it was something one would keep in a bedroom, for the purpose stated - particularly in a quite large house with a basement, and I believe a garage too.
Seeing the images of that paving stone/brick, along with the other physical and circumstantial evidence, removed from my mind the faintest possibility of the self defence argument, and convinced me that this was perhaps more of a first degree murder case, than second degree murder. I would hope a jury in a retrial would be equally convinced that the paving stone/brick was not something a reasonable person would believe to have been in the bedroom for the reasons given by the Martens, and instead was deliberately brought in as a weapon.
It was not something cutesey or curious or interesting enough to be an object you would even want to paint, in my opinion. The crime scene photos show an irregular shaped, solid brick, about twice as big as a normal adults hand. I didn't think then, and I don't think now, that it was something one would keep in a bedroom, for the purpose stated - particularly in a quite large house with a basement, and I believe a garage too.
Seeing the images of that paving stone/brick, along with the other physical and circumstantial evidence, removed from my mind the faintest possibility of the self defence argument, and convinced me that this was perhaps more of a first degree murder case, than second degree murder. I would hope a jury in a retrial would be equally convinced that the paving stone/brick was not something a reasonable person would believe to have been in the bedroom for the reasons given by the Martens, and instead was deliberately brought in as a weapon.