Photo: Zachariah Ray Martin
A Lone Rock man accused of chasing his wife with a rifle and shooting it in the air with children present in mid-September last year has been rearrested on charges of violating a no contact order issued in the wake of the original incident.
According to the Baxter County jail log, 35-year-old Zachariah Ray Martin was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center in the early morning hours Monday.
Deputies went to a residence along County Road 111 once on Sunday and then again early Monday morning, responding to reports made by Martin’s wife that her husband had become angry and argumentative after consuming alcohol for a lengthy period of time Sunday. The wife said she had told her husband to go to bed or leave the residence. He was reported to have slapped her and left the area.
Deputies responding to the call were unable to locate him on the first trip.
Deputies were called back to the home, after the wife reported Martin had returned. They did make contact with Martin at that point. He was reported to have been sitting in a pickup truck. He refused to leave the vehicle, saying he had no intention of going to jail. Deputies had to break out windows in the truck and employ a stun gun to bring him under control.
Even though the no contact order was put in place after the initial situation, the incident report on the recent arrest seems to indicate Martin had been at the residence for some time. There is no explanation as to why the wife did not report his presence when he initially arrived, or if he was actually living there which would have violated the no contact order.
Martin’s first arrest came in mid-September last year. Deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call at a residence along Rim Shoals Lane, apparently belonging to Martin’s father. According to the incident report on that arrest, it was Martin’s father who made the 911 call. The father told deputies his son’s wife had come to his residence and began slapping Martin while he slept on the couch.
The victim painted a different picture of events. She said she had been invited to the residence so Martin could see his children. She told deputies when she arrived she was “attacked” by him. She alleged when she attempted to flee the home with the children, Martin grabbed a gun and trapped them inside.
When she managed to get out of the house, she said Martin pursued her and pointed the gun at her and the children and then fired shots into the air.
After the victim got into her vehicle with the children, Martin was reported to have broken the windshield and ripped the windshield wipers and a mirror off the car. Deputies reported seeing damage to the car consistent with the victim’s statement. One of the children recounted the events, and she was reported to have told basically the same story as her mother.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a deputy interviewing Martin reported detecting the odor of intoxicants. Martin was reported to have initially refused to fill out a voluntary statement form, crumpling it and throwing it on the ground. Eventually, he did complete a written statement, alleging his father’s story was correct, and it had been his wife who attacked him.
Martin denied a weapon was involved. The deputies told him a 911 dispatcher had heard gunshots over the phone, and he asked if the shots had been recorded. When told a recording did exist, Martin refused to answer any more questions.
In the first incident, Martin was charged with aggravated assault of a family or household member and two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor. He entered a not guilty plea those charges through his attorney in late February. Because of restrictions on the operation of courts brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, Martin is not due to reappear on the original charges until October, according to electronic court records.
In the recent incident, he is charged with domestic battery, resisting arrest using force, violating a no contact order and interference with emergency communications. The latter charge was filed, according to the incident report, because Martin took a cellphone from his wife several times to prevent her from calling 911.
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