Judge: R-E embezzlement case coverage does not require venue change

May 4—TRAVERSE CITY — Record-Eagle coverage of embezzlement charges filed against a Peninsula Township couple was accurate, appropriate and cited publicly-available evidence, a judge said before denying a change of venue request.

"I've had a chance to review the motion, which did include the articles that were filed previously in the Record-Eagle, as well as the response from the People," 13th Circuit Court Judge Charles Hamlyn said during a hearing Thursday.

"Simply having pre-trial publicity is ... not enough to establish that a prejudice exists such that a venue needs to be changed," Hamlyn said.

"(T)he evidence that came forward, as indicated by Mr. Olson at the preliminary examination, cited in the paper is attributed as such," Hamlyn said. "All of the phrasing is accurately done and appropriately done."

Attorney William Burdette represents David Michael Martin, a businessman who faces trial on three counts of felony embezzlement after prosecutors allege, in court filings, he and Ellen Lynne Martin took financial advantage of a wealthy physician diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

The Martins have both pleaded not guilty and Burdette said in his motion that Record-Eagle coverage of the charges had tainted the jury pool.

"The newspaper is here today," Burdette told the judge during the hearing. "Since this case started, people have made negative comments to him (David Michael Martin), people that said they don't want to associate with him anymore."

Attorney Michael Corcoran, who represents Ellen Martin, said he supported a change of venue, while Grand Traverse County Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Olson said such a motion was premature and something to be addressed during jury selection.

Judge Hamlyn agreed.

"The better indicator when we have reached that bar is jury selection," Hamlyn said.

The judge also granted more time for Corcoran, recently appointed to Ellen Martin's case, to consider whether to oppose a prosecution motion seeking to consolidate the two cases into a single trial.

The charges were filed in July, following an investigation by a Grand Traverse County Sheriff's detective, Sgt. Jarrod Bilacic, into the Martins' role as caretakers for Jay Ambrosini, who retired to northern Michigan after being diagnosed with end-stage Parkinson's disease.

Ambrosini, 76, had a 30-year career as a radiologist and died on Dec. 12, 2021.

The Martins, in telephone and text message conversations, previously told the Record-Eagle that, as friends of Ambrosini, they provided him with gourmet meals, Sunday drives and companionship.

The Martins said they treated Ambrosini like family and provided him with excellent in-home care, and that it was actually others who took advantage of Ambrosini's finances.

Previous witness testimony and court filings by prosecutors appear to dispute this.

Instead, prosecutors say the Martins, beginning in 2019, obtained and attempted to obtain Ambrosini's money and property to benefit themselves.

Prosecutors allege that David Martin isolated Ambrosini from his longtime financial adviser, a Chicago-area wealth adviser named Arthur Busby Jr., and induced Ambrosini in August 2020 to execute new estate planning documents.

These documents, prosecutors say, named David Martin as Ambrosini's power of attorney and David and Ellen Martin as successor trustees who were to receive $758,000 (David Martin) and $30,000 (Ellen Martin) when Ambrosini died.

Busby testified that he visited Ambrosini in his Duck Lake Peninsula home and grew concerned after he said Ambrosini told him he'd been forced to make the estate plan changes.

Busby testified he drove Ambrosini to the offices of a new attorney who drafted a new estate plan that eventually removed the Martins.

In his executor role, Busby, in court testimony and in court filings, said, as he worked to organize Ambrosini's finances, he located information that inspired concern.

For example, Busby said he arranged for the locks on a home Ambrosini owned in Palm Springs, Calif., to be changed and the home's contents documented, including a late model Mercedes SUV stored in the garage.

Later, the Mercedes Benz SUV went missing and was reported in California as stolen, although court records show David Martin is accused of driving the vehicle cross-country and selling it to an acquaintance named Don Declercq for $60,000, court documents state.

"David Martin told him (Don Declercq) how the vehicle was stored in California, that he sent the keys to the house and the garage door opener to the victim's cleaning lady in California, and how he instructed her to go inside the house to see if the car was there," a complaint filed in 86th District Court states.

"The locks had been changed, but the cleaning lady was able to use the garage door opener to open the garage door," the complaint states. "David Martin then flew out to California and took the car."

The case in March was bound over to 13th Circuit Court by 86th District Court Judge Robert A. Cooney, who at the close of a preliminary examination expressed apparent irritation over the defendant's bond and legal representation status.

"If he has a Jaguar sitting in his driveway, why is this a zero bond?" Cooney asked. "Usually we don't have people with Mercedes and Jaguars receive appointed attorneys."

A July 7 court document shows David Martin initially received a $25,000 personal recognizance or "PR" bond, meaning he was not required to put up any money, and he requested and received a court-appointed attorney through the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission.

A petition and order for court-appointed attorney, also dated July 7, states David Martin owns his home on Old Mission Peninsula which he valued at $40,000, had $900 in a checking account and worked as a part-time self-employed pet sitter.

Under "obligations," the form states, "$43,000 cash taken by police."

Cooney remanded David Martin to jail March 8, after hearing arguments from Olson about bond violations, although David Martin was released later that month after 13th Circuit Court Judge Kevin Elsenheimer granted a $100,000/10 percent bond.

Judge Hamlyn at a May 31 hearing is expected to hear arguments on the prosecution's motion to consolidate the cases into a single trial.