Arizona man receives life prison sentence for killing neighbor
Philip Martin (Mohave County Sheriff's Office)
A life prison term was imposed Monday for a man who shot and killed his neighbor in the northwest Arizona community of Golden Valley.
A jury spent only 20 minutes deliberating in late June before finding Philip Martin, 64, guilty of first-degree murder in the October 2012 death of Steven Schwartz, 55.
The jury rejected Martin’s claim that he was defending himself and his property when he shot Schwartz with a 12-gauge shotgun.
This was Martin’s second trial in the matter. Conviction and sentence in his first trial was overturned on appeal.
