Tai Chan: “I will never forget the look in his eyes when he pointed the gun at me”
Tai Chan, the former Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputy accused of killing his partner, testified in his own defense Friday.
Chan described a chaotic scene in side a room at the Hotel Encanto, where he shot and killed fellow deputy Jeremy Martin in 2014. The two deputies decided to spend the night in Las Cruces after dropping off a prisoner in Arizona.
Chan’s original trial ended in a mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a verdict. The former deputy said he killed his partner in self defense.
Chan’s testimony began with a look back at his training at the sheriff’s office academy.
“I learned that we need to go home to our families, that we are the most important ones and we need to make it through our shift,” Chan said in regards to the training he received at the academy. “It was always about being careful where people’s hands are because those hands could harm you. That’s what we were always focused on.”
Chan said his SWAT team training “was very important because it dealt with life or death … They drilled that into us at the academy: how to retain your weapon.”
Chan said he was also trained to recognize threats that required lethal force. “What happens when someone is beating you up and they have a weapon, ” a defense attorney asked. “Then we would have to use lethal force,” Chan replied.
Chan said he did not attend classes with Jeremy Martin, did not know Martin socially, and had never worked with Martin.
The deputies decided to drive to Las Cruces and spend the night there because “It was shorter trip in the morning from Las Cruces to Santa Fe and there was more to do in Las Cruces.”
Chan said he is a Dallas Cowboys fan and they were watching the Monday night game that night.
Chan said he and Martin drank the same amount of beers and walked to several bars and restaurants that night. They drank a pitcher of beer and ate wings at Hooters later that evening. “I was buzzed,” Chan said.
The deputies went to Dublin’s bar. “I remember I was drinking red bull and vodka and we had shots of fireballs.”
Martin was “drinking red bulls and vodka and fireballs. I’m not sure,” Chan said.
Chan said he and Martin discussed double homicide in Santa Fe that Martin responded to. Chan joked Martin was the one who killed the victims and Martin got angry.
“It wasn’t a nice thing to say, but I wasn’t saying it to imply he was responsible,” Chan said. Martin left the bar after Chan’s comment and Chan tried to contact Martin via text messages.
Martin later came back and the two had to be dropped off at the hotel. “Jeremy helped me out of the truck,” Chan said.
Chan did not remember what time it was when they arrived at the room.
“He brought up the double homicide again,” Chan said,” I was thinking: ‘Why are we arguing about this?'”
“He was upset and tried to kick me in the balls. He was so angry and I was really confused and he stormed into the bathroom,” Chan said.
Chan said he blocked the kick but never got physical with Martin. “I was scared at the comments he was making and he was not making sense. I got scared and ran outside,” Chan said.
“Why did you not call 911,” the defense attorney asked. “I did not want to get him in trouble,” Chan said.
Chan and Martin met back up outside the hotel room and returned to the room. “He was telling me, ‘I love you bro.’ It felt like he was apologizing,” Chan said.
Chan was on the phone with his wife and later heard Martin banging on the bathroom door.
“Open the fucking door. Open the fucking door,” Martin said, according to Chan’s testimony.
Chan opened the door and Martin said “I am going to shoot you.”
“He had this stare. I will never forget how he was looking at me when he pointed the gun at me. It just happened so fast,” Chan said, “Then I remember just being hit on the face and blanking out and falling on the floor.”
“I knew he had the gun and I just remember saying, ‘I have to grab the gun.’ I reached out for the gun and a shot went out – I remember a loud bang and a ringing in my ears,” Chan recalled.
“I have the gun, I have the gun,” Chan recalled saying, “I could not believe I had the gun and then I got up and started shooting.”
“What were you thinking,” the defense attorney asked. “You just can’t explain it. He was trying to kill me,” Chan answered.
Chan said the grabbed the gun and forced it out of Martin’s hand. He remembers Martin running out into the hallway. “I can stop shooting now,” Chan recalled saying.
Chan testified he ran into the hallway and started yelling “sheriff’s office” and “I need help.”
Chan said he still feared for his life at that point. He also feared for the life of officers responding to the shooting. “I was afraid Jeremy was going to shoot them as well,” Chan said.
Chan was asked to explain why he told responding officer there was a bomb inside the hotel. “They were not paying attention to me and I thought that by saying there was a bomb, they would pay attention to me,” Chan said.
“I was in a fight for my life. In a fight for my survival. And the person who tried to kill me – I though he was still out there,” Chan said.
Chan said he was unaware Martin was dead until hours later.
Chan told the jury he never tried to kill Martin. “He tried to kill me. It was survival. I was fighting for my life.”
Disctrict Attorney Mark D’Antonio later asked Chan, “Is it true that you shot Jeremy Martin five times in the back while he was running away?”
“Yes,” Chan answered.
“Is it true you shot Martin even though you aware he had no weapon,” D’Antonio asked.
“Yes,” Chan replied.
“In the hallway, did Martin ever pull out a gun and fire at you,” D’Antonio asked.
“No,” Chan answered while emphasizing he never had the intention of killing his partner.
