Man fights probation violation charge

In March, Bloomington resident Matthew Martin, 25, awoke to discover that, along with a pounding hangover, he was also behind bars at the Monroe County Jail, after having his motel room searched the night before in a robbery investigation.\nThe robbery in question was at the Ramada Limited Inn on North Walnut Street, where a night clerk had been beaten, sliced across the neck with a knife and shot while he lay unconscious on the ground early that morning. \nIt's been four months since the robbery and Martin remains in jail without bond. He is not, however, being held for that crime. Instead, he is charged with resisting law enforcement and intimidation in March, police reports show. Also, because he was on probation for an alleged robbery in June 2005, he was considered to be violating his probation.\nFriday, Monroe County Judge Kenneth Todd ruled that Martin had indeed violated his probation by resisting law enforcement and intimidating an officer in March. In addition, the court determined that Martin had failed a urine test for marijuana and alcohol consumption. Martin's sentencing hearing on the probation matter is Aug. 9. Martin pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges.\nHis lawyer, David Schalk thinks his client shouldn't be charged at all for the two criminal charges or for violating his probation. Schalk is asking for all charges to be dismissed against Martin, citing an unlawful entry and search of his dwelling. \n"Consent was not freely and inordinately given. He asked the cops to leave and they didn't," Schalk said. \nMartin was the last person to sign in for the night at the motel and was an immediate suspect, Schalk said. But since Bloomington resident Chad Luck, the son of retired Bloomington Police Officer Dexter Luck, has allegedly confessed and been charged with the robbery, Schalk does not believe the authorities have any right to keep Martin behind bars. \n"There's no reason for him to be locked up," he said.\nThe Witness\nSandra Lopez, 24, a Bloomington woman and friend of Martin, thinks the situation he has found himself in is unfortunate. "It's an awful situation," Lopez said.\nLopez was there the night Martin was arrested, after volunteering to be the designated driver for him and a friend after a night out clubbing, she said.\nThat evening, Martin, who had been sleeping at friend's house, was asked to stay somewhere else. Lopez and Martin ended up at the motel where the robbery occurred by chance, she said, as they had planned to stay in another location with friends, but had been unable to locate them. Leaving their third friend downstairs in the running car, passed out, they retreated to the motel room they had rented at the Ramada Limited Inn.\nThe first Lopez knew about the robbery was when the police came knocking on her door an hour after they had rented the room, in search of Martin. \n"They asked who was with me," Lopez said, "But the funny thing is they already knew he was in there."\nAfter arguing with the police about being allowed to search the room, Lopez relented, signing a consent form. \n"I asked him, 'Do I have an option?' and he said 'Sign this paper or we'll stay here and wait for a judge to get a warrant,'" she said.\nAs is the situation in many late-night raids such as this one, the police were suspicious of Lopez's reluctance to open the door. She claims she was getting dressed and trying vainly to rouse Martin.\n"At the time they thought I was hiding something," Lopez said. "I couldn't get Matthew to wake up."\nAccording to police reports, when the officers entered the room and woke Martin, he grew angry and began yelling at the officers, telling them to exit his room and threatening to harm them.\nLopez doesn't deny that Martin was angry, but she still gets upset when she thinks about all of the ways that the situation could have gone better. \n"As soon as I opened the door they immediately ... picked up the mattress and poured him onto the floor," she said. "I really wish they had given me the chance to wake him up."\nWhat's Next\nSchalk is arguing that Martin's rights were violated when the police entered his room and refused to leave it after he asked them to. \n"The cops were extremely pushy," he said. "He didn't break any law."\nMartin faces a sentencing for probation violation on Aug. 9. A final pre-trial hearing for the criminal charges is going to be held on Aug. 29.