SerpApi.Org
DANBURY — The state filed a motion Monday to dismiss Carlton Martin's petition for a new trial following his conviction in the 1999 murder of Robert Gallo in Danbury.
Martin, 51, has spent more than 25 years in prison for his role in Gallo’s January 1999 death. The 45-year-old father of three was killed during a Martin Luther King Day robbery at the Hi-Way Package Store. Authorities said Gallo, who ran the North Street liquor store for his father, was shot five times.
Martin and his cousin, Tommie Martin — both 24-year-old Bridgeport residents at the time — were arrested days later and charged with felony murder, first-degree robbery and other offenses. Prosecutors accused Tommie Martin — who reportedly fled the store with an armload of cheap brandy — of planning the robbery and Carlton Martin of being the gunman.
Carlton Martin and Tommie Martin were tried separately and both convicted and sentenced to 90-year prison terms in 2000. Tommie Martin’s sentence, however, later was reduced to 75 years following a 2004 retrial that resulted in his reconviction.
With about one-third of his sentence served, Carlton Martin filed a petition for a new trial earlier this year in state Superior Court in Danbury, citing “newly discovered evidence” related to the firearm toolmark analysis used in his 2000 trial.
Martin contended in an April 2026 complaint that the analysis “is now deemed unreliable by much of the scientific community” and has asked the court to vacate his 2000 conviction and grant “whatever other relief that law and justice require.”
The state — which previously filed an objection — now is asking the court to throw out Martin’s petition for a new trial, arguing it is both procedurally barred and without merit.
In a motion to dismiss, the state contends the petition was filed beyond the statute of limitations and that the ballistics evidence Martin cited does not qualify as newly discovered evidence or justify a new trial. Prosecutors also argue the challenged ballistics testimony was only one part of the evidence presented against Martin and that discounting it would not have changed the outcome of his 2000 trial.
“Because the petition is untimely and the ‘newly discovered’ evidence is insufficient to overcome the overwhelming evidence presented at trial, the State respectfully requests that the Court deny and dismiss the Petition,” Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Deborah Mabbett wrote in the July 20 motion.
