Split Decision For State Inmate From Lowndes County

JACKSON (WCBI ) A Columbus man gets some good news and bad news from the State Supreme Court.

MARTIN

Eugene Martin will stay in prison but he might get out sooner than he thought.   The State’s highest court Thursday upheld Martin’s conviction of shooting into an occupied dwelling but says he was sentenced under the wrong guidelines.  he was convicted for shooting into a friends Columbus apartment back in 2013 after the two had been to a nightclub and then argued later. That argument ended when Martin fired through an apartment door.   He was convicted as a habitual offender and sentenced to a mandatory 10 years.  The Supreme Court says Martin did not meet the habitual offender guidelines and is telling Lowndes County it has to hold a new sentencing hearing.  Martin could still get up to 10 years but the judge has the option of a lesser term.