Christian acquitted of attempted murder

A former local football star was found not guilty for the attempted murder of a longtime enemy after his ex-girlfriend testified she saw the near-fatal attack take place.

Acquitted on the charge of attempted murder were former Pioneer football player Scottie Christian and co-defendant, Shawn Martin. The acquittal came after extensive deliberations Thursday following a trial which stretched three days.

The two were charged with the attempted murder of John Marc Porter in 2003. Porter was beaten and stabbed repeatedly and found in a driveway in the Bybee Branch area. Porter said he had fallen asleep in his truck and was awoken by his attacker who struck him in the head as he was being pulled from his vehicle. He could not identify the attacker who stabbed him at least 12 times, slashing his throat and other areas before leaving him for dead.

However, the state?s star witness, Robin Crouch, a former girlfriend of Christian, told jurors she saw it all. During her testimony, Crouch said she drove Christian to the home of Martin where Christian was going to spend the night. When they arrived, she said he found Porter, a longtime enemy, asleep in his truck and attacked him.

It was the location of the crime scene outside Martin?s house which led to the charges against Martin. Although not charged with the attack, prosecutors had maintained Martin lured Porter there under the pretext of selling him drugs and that Porter had fallen asleep in his truck while waiting for Martin to come home.

In addition to featuring an alleged eyewitness, the trial also exposed a subculture of drug use and drug trafficking as many of the witnesses called to testify had long criminal records, some of them transported from the state prison or county jail to appear on the stand.

The state?s star witness had also faced attempted murder charges; however, she turned state?s evidence and charges against her were dropped. The dropping of the charges was noted by Christian defense attorney Lisa Zavogiannis as a reason she may have been less than truthful in her testimony.

?The people of Warren County allowed justice to prevail,? Zavogiannis said of the acquittal.

Had the men been convicted, they would have faced 15 to 25 years in prison.