Who fired the fatal shot? Jury rules on West Palm woman's role in boyfriend's death

Julius Whigham II, Palm Beach Post
·4 min read

WEST PALM BEACH — Ruby Martinez told Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office investigators that her boyfriend, Jamal Francis, accidentally shot himself while fiddling with a gun as the two sat in a car outside of her West Palm Beach-area home early one morning in 2017.

The investigators claimed it was Martinez who pulled the trigger, arresting her a year later on manslaughter and evidence tampering charges. But this week, more than five years after her arrest, a jury found Martinez not guilty on both counts.

Jurors deliberated for about three hours Monday, submitting a question to Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss regarding calls that Martinez made after she spoke to 911 on March 11, 2017. Weiss advised the jury that they had to rely on evidence presented at trial.

“We appreciate the jury’s careful attention to the trial. While we disagree with the jury’s verdict, we respect it,” State Attorney's Office spokesperson Marc Freeman said in a statement Tuesday.

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Ruby Martinez listens to testimony during her trial. Martinez was acquitted on charges of manslaughter with a firearm and tampering with physical evidence in the death of Jamal Francis in 2017.
Ruby Martinez listens to testimony during her trial. Martinez was acquitted on charges of manslaughter with a firearm and tampering with physical evidence in the death of Jamal Francis in 2017.

COVID shutdown helped delay trial for more than three years

Defense attorneys Eric Volz and Danise Ponton said testimony from Jacksonville-based forensic consultant Michael LaForte was a key component of their defense and argued that the state's case was based on a flawed blood-spatter analysis provided by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

“One of the key factors was definitely the scientific evidence in the case," Volz said Tuesday. "They had a blood pattern analyst come in, and they gave their opinion, and our expert showed the court through his testimony why her conclusions were completely incorrect. "

During the preliminary investigation, Martinez told PBSO deputies that she was seated in the front passenger seat of the car and opening a bottle of vodka outside her residence in the Plantation Mobile Mobile Home Park off Okeechobee Boulevard when Francis, then 26, accidentally shot himself.

Forensic expert Anna Cox, left, testifies next to Judge Daliah H. Weiss during the trial of Ruby Martinez at the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida on May 17, 2023. Martinez faces charges of manslaughter with a firearm and tampering with physical evidence in the death of Jamal Francis in 2017.
Forensic expert Anna Cox, left, testifies next to Judge Daliah H. Weiss during the trial of Ruby Martinez at the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida on May 17, 2023. Martinez faces charges of manslaughter with a firearm and tampering with physical evidence in the death of Jamal Francis in 2017.

However, PBSO investigators said that blood spatter-evidence indicated that Francis could not have shot himself and, with Martinez stating that they were the only two people in the car, concluded that she was the shooter.

Deputies arrested Martinez in March 2018, and she was released from custody the following October on a $150,000 bond. The case was initially scheduled to go before a jury in February 2020, just weeks before Palm Beach County courts would be closed to criminal trials for more than a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was postponed in December 2019 when Martinez's attorneys requested more time for their forensics expert to review the evidence. Subsequent trial dates were delayed to allow the parties time to file motions and responses, court records show.

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The trial's key question: How did the dead man's blood spatter?

At the time of her arrest, investigators alleged that Martinez, then 27 and now 33, staged the scene by placing the handgun on the driver's floorboard and tampered with evidence by removing a vodka bottle from the center-console cupholder and throwing it behind the car.

Volz described PBSO's investigation as deficient and incomplete. At trial, he and Ponton challenged the conclusions of the state's forensic consultant, Anna Cox, who in her initial investigation determined that, based on the blood spatter evidence, Francis likely did not shoot himself and that no one was seated in the front passenger seat when the gun was fired.

Family members of Jamal Francis listen to testimony during the trial of Ruby Martinez.
Family members of Jamal Francis listen to testimony during the trial of Ruby Martinez.

"Ms. Cox was giving a conclusion that my client was somewhere else other than the front seat of the vehicle, and Mr. LaForte proved that she was in the front seat and was not lying," Volz said.

Ponton described Francis' death as a tragedy, but said the evidence showed that Martinez was not responsible.

“I think that the jury came to the right conclusion," she said. "I believe that they saw what Mr. Volz and I had always seen, that Ruby was, quite frankly, innocent."

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today. 

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Woman found not guilty in 2017 fatal shooting near West Palm Beach