After three days of deliberation, a jury failed to find a financially challenged banker guilty of murder when he shot and killed another driver in downtown Portland last year.
The Multnomah County jury found Geoffrey Hammond guilty of first-degree assault and two counts of unauthorized use of a weapon, both felonies, in the killing of Ryan Martin and the injuring of Sam Gomez, but they were unable to reach a decision on the most serious charges against him on Monday.
Circuit Judge Jenna Plank decided that Hammond will be held pending a new trial, and that in and of itself carries a mandatory seven-year jail sentence.
Around 4:30 p.m. on October 11, 2023, 48-year-old Uber driver Hammond, who has a remote claim to a Chicago fortune, was jostling for a ride outside the Moxy Hotel when he parked three feet from the curb, causing rush-hour traffic to bottleneck.
According to surveillance footage, Martin, a 47-year-old Nike employee, was heading home from his daughter’s soccer match in Vancouver when he came upon Hammond’s shoddy parking job. He then got out of his truck and approached.
As Martin got closer to the driver-side window, Hammond retrieved a revolver from a lockbox beneath his seat and shot him in the chest. As Martin lay dying in the street, he displayed a fake badge.
According to Hammond, Martin apologized, saying, “I had a bad day.”
On October 11, 2023, Ryan Martin is seen on surveillance footage approaching Geoffrey Hammond’s black SUV parked on Southwest Alder Street.Sparling, Zane, and The Oregonian
It took Gomez, a nonprofit executive from Arizona, thirty seconds to turn a corner and start snapping pictures with his phone before Hammond shot Gomez in the leg.
The jury, which consists of seven men and five women, must decide what a reasonable person would do in such circumstances, not someone who has a misplaced delusional notion that everyone is trying to get him, prosecutor Brad Kalbaugh told them during closing statements last week.
Despite portraying himself in cryptocurrency circles as a shrewd banker, Hammond had declared bankruptcy only months prior to the shooting death, stating in court documents that he had lost $240,000 in a stock market meltdown.
During the trial, Hammond did not testify. Following his arrest, Hammond gave detectives a recorded interview in which he implied that Gomez and Martin were cooperating, with Martin using a military distraction tactic as Gomez prepared the shot.
But according to Gomez’s testimony, he was just in town for a conference and was strolling around when he heard a disturbance. He took a picture of Hammondin just before he was shot.
According to Gomez, he was cool and collected and didn’t warn me. I was recently shot by him.
Sam Gomez, who founded the nonprofit organization The Sagrado, shows how he was shot while holding his cell phone.Sparling, Zane, and The Oregonian
Following the incident, Hammond dialed 911 and drove to a nearby parking garage, where he turned himself in. According to the video presented in court, Hammond’s response was equally flat when he was informed that the first shot was lethal.
He remarked without emotion, “I’m sorry to hear that he passed away; that’s kind of sad.”
Although the defense did not contest the shootings, they offered a number of defenses, such as that Hammond was acting in self-defense against an irate oncoming driver, that he was under duress and mistook Gomez’s coffee cup for a gun, or that he only intended to wound Martin rather than kill him, as Oregon law requires intent for a murder conviction.
Defense lawyer Joseph Westover told the jury that he honestly believed he was going to be the target of violence. He had no intention of killing.
aiming a firearm at a person in close proximity The prosecutor replied, “I submit to you that is the intent to kill someone.”
According to court documents, Hammond was born Jeffrey Mandalis, but he changed his identity while involved in a sour dispute with 13 other grandkids for ownership of the politically connected O Brien family fortune in Chicago, which is estimated to be worth $125 million.
According to a 2019 Illinois appellate court decision, Hammond lost an attempt to gain more power and subsequently filed a lawsuit against his lawyers. According to the bankruptcy court documents, Hammond owed over $750,000 for his house in Southwest Portland and $24,000 for his Mercedes GLA.
Recent requests to vacate the property were made by a receiver appointed in the bankruptcy case, who claimed that he had been unable to sell it on the open market due to serious structural flaws.
But during the trial, the jury didn’t hear anything about Hammond’s financial situation.
In Oregon, a not-guilty finding requires ten jurors, but a guilty verdict must be unanimous. As one juror and Martin’s family donned matching orange scarves in observance of Martin’s favorite color, the gallery erupted in tears upon Monday’s verdict.
For The Oregonian/OregonLive, Zane Sparling reports on court proceedings and breaking news. You may contact him at [email protected], 503-319-7083, or pdxzane.
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