Tony Linwood Martin Jr. took the stand to answer questions about the charges lodged against him by the Roanoke Rapids Police Department last year.
While his testimony answered questions about why he was charged last week with allegedly stalking the victim involved in the case he is on trial for, his cross-examination also led to a reprimand from visiting Superior Court Judge J.C. Cole to Martin, his defense attorney and the state prosecutor this afternoon.
Martin, a 47-year-old married father of three, is a professional interior decorator who has run a number of businesses, “Some failures, some successful,” he said under questioning by his attorney, Kanter Searcy Morris.
Many of his claims today refuted testimony in the trial Tuesday.
Lifelong friends
Martin described his relationship with the late Junior Pierce and his family as that of lifelong friends. Pierce’s widow is the alleged victim in his obtaining property by false pretense and exploitation of elder trust case. “He did all the plumbing work for my personal house and business,” he said.
It was plumbing work Pierce did for Martin that led to his initial indebtedness to the family. “Money was tight,” he said. “Mr. Pierce said don’t worry about it.”
Pierce died in January of 2010 and after the funeral Martin said he called Pierce’s daughter, Wanda Cooke, to tell her he owed her father $2,000. He claimed Cooke told him to hold off.
Martin said Cooke approached him about doing work on a house her mother was buying across the street from her. It was a year project with Faye Pierce, Mr. Pierce’s widow, only taking a few furnishings to the new house. Martin estimated he put in a thousand hours of work without giving invoices on an $80,000 job. “She said her checks would be her receipt,” he said, referring to Mrs. Pierce.
Martin said Mrs. Pierce never had trouble making decisions. “She never discussed her role in her business. I knew she was maintaining the business. I knew she answered telephones and wrote up job orders.”
He said he never left the plumbing business when other employees came in. He said Mrs. Pierce knew he was trying to open a design and consignment shop on Roanoke Avenue, a business he kept going through last year.
Cash flow troubles
Mid to late summer 2011 is when he first asked for money. “I had cash flow troubles. The banking industry clamped down on small businesses like me,” he said. Two banks turned him down.
“I approached Mrs. Pierce,” he said, explaining, “No I did not beg. I said I really needed to borrow money and would be glad to pay you interest. I told her I would pay her 10 percent. She never appeared to be hesitant. She was very competent.”
Martin wrote up checks from an old Citizens Community Bank account to serve as IOUs, backing the defense's contention that Mrs. Pierce knew the account was closed. “I intended to pay her back. I never intended to never pay her back.”
Martin said at the end of 2011 he paid $2,000 of the $150,000 he borrowed back. “I intended to repay every penny.”
Following a break-in, Cooke contacted Martin while he was in Atlanta about the checks found written to her mother from the closed account. “When I got back from Atlanta I called Wanda. She said, ‘I don’t want to talk to you. Don’t give her another check until I talk to Andy Jackson (head of investigations at the Roanoke Rapids Police Department.’”
Stalking allegations and reprimand
Martin said he was at PNC Bank on Hamilton Street Friday where he opened a new account because, he said, his account at Southern Bank was closed after the police investigation.
“I did not see Mrs. Pierce at first,” he said. “I saw her car. I saw her at the teller making a deposit. I saw her get in her car.”
Martin said he did take pictures of Mrs. Pierce. “I had nothing to prove except the woman can conduct business by herself.”
Martin said he hasn’t talked about paying Mrs. Pierce back since his arrest. “I desire to pay her back.”
Halifax County Assistant District Attorney Amy Broughton questioned Martin on a number of things, including his practice of not submitting invoices and questioning him on how he paid taxes using his self-admitted practice of keeping few records. Martin later said he paid his taxes and used an accountant for that service.
Broughton questioned Martin on his claim that he and the Pierces were lifelong friends when he couldn’t remember how long it had been since Mr. Pierce died.
She questioned how he could buy thousands of yards of fabric with no records of the purchase and how he could bill the customer for that purchase. “I put four yards of fabric on the headboard. I’m sure Mrs. Pierce would like for you to see it.” Martin replied.
Broughton questioned his practice on receipts. “Do any of your clients request receipts?”
Replied Martin: “Not usually. I don’t deal with real difficult people.”
Martin had difficulty answering Broughton’s question of what on the face of the closed account checks made them IOUs and questioned why he didn’t write enough IOUs to cover the full $150,000 in loans instead of just $90,000.
“Why didn’t you write more IOUs?” Broughton asked to which Martin had no reply. “Because you got busted?” she shot back, as Morris objected and Cole sustained the motion.
Broughton asked Martin, “Where does it say IOU?”
Said Martin: “I didn’t think to put IOU on it?”
When Broughton asked how anyone would know the checks were IOUs, Martin responded, “Because we were friends.”
A flurry of objections were registered by Morris during the cross-examination and when Broughton asked Martin whether the checks he wrote the IOUs were from one of his company’s dissolved by the state, Martin challenged her to go to Raleigh and find out.
Judge Cole finally excused the jury and told, Martin, Broughton and Morris, “Court is not the place for this kind of behavior. This is a difficult matter and an emotional matter. We don’t need this in front of any jury.”
