He Looked Through His Own Peephole. She Was On The Other Side With His Gun.

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[00:00:00]My name is Joya Duron. I'm trying to get in my apartment, but I'm not able to get in and I think my husband is injured.

[00:00:10]>> Your husband's hurt?

[00:00:12]>> Yes.

[00:00:13]>> Do you hear him?

[00:00:15]>> No, he's not responding. And I called him. He's just not responding.

[00:00:20]And there's a hole in his door and I don't know what's going on.

[00:00:24]>> There's a hole in the door.

[00:00:26]>> Yes. That woman on the phone was not Joya Deruan. The real Joya was at home completely unaware. While the man she had loved since they were teenagers, the man she had married, the man she had just done the hair of 4 days earlier because he had a show that Saturday and he was so excited about it was already gone. And the woman on that phone knew it. She knew about the hole in that door before a single officer arrived. She knew which apartment. She knew his name.

[00:00:57]She knew enough to impersonate his wife, but she could not spell that wife's name correctly. She got his age wrong by 6 years. And she gave the wrong address, accidentally giving her own old street instead of his. Now, you have to ask yourself something. What kind of person after what just happened in that hallway has the presence of mind to call 911 and pretend to be somebody else but not enough presence of mind to get the basic details right? That question is going to follow us through this entire story because the answer tells you everything about who Sasha Scari really was and everything about what really happened to Martell Duan on the night of January 22nd, 2021. Before we go any further, let's talk about who Martell Deruan actually was because this man deserves more than a name in a headline. He deserves to be known. Martell Deruan was 34 years old, born in Louisiana, claimed San Antonio as his city. He spent 6 years in the United States Air Force as a sergeant in the intelligence department, working with some of the military's most sensitive and classified information. The kind of work that requires security clearance. The kind of work that demands discipline, precision, and an exceptional level of trust. After the Air Force, he followed what he loved, music. His stage name was Cardone. And he was not just dreaming about a music career. He was actually building one. He was signed to the Orchard, a label affiliated with Sony Music. Pull up on the block. [music] I got them low. Little mama drop. She got wo [music] everywhere we go. reach into my pockets and the money.

[00:02:40]>> He ran his own recording studio. He worked as a sound engineer for other artists coming up in San Antonio. He was studying music engineering in college at the same time he was doing all of this simultaneously. The people who worked alongside him said he was talented and humble in equal measure. And in an industry where everyone is fighting to be the loudest voice in the room, Martell's power was in his stillness.

[00:03:04]Now, here is the part that always stops people when they first hear this story.

[00:03:08]Martell Deruan was a cousin of Beyonce through his grandmother, Agnes Duan, a direct family connection to one of the most famous women on the planet and he never used it, not once. The people around him actually had to put that connection in his professional biography because Martell himself refused to bring it up.

[00:03:28]>> Something he would even mention to people. we just have to put in his bios because it's just it's worthy to put in there. But he doesn't like stuff like that.

[00:03:36]>> He wanted to be known for him. And he was getting there slowly, steadily, on his own terms. His career was genuinely starting to take off. He painted murals.

[00:03:49]He played basketball. He cooked. He showed up for the people in his life consistently and quietly. His sister Cammy described him in court. And I need you to hear every word of this.

[00:04:04]>> I am Kam Duan. I am Martell Duan's sister. Martell was a phenomenal man. He was an amazing son, brother, husband, family member, and friend. My brother was not only a musical artist with musical pursuits via Empire and the Orchard/Sony Music. Alongside with working with major producers and other artists, he was a disabled veteran who served six years in the United States Air Force in the intel department, which I am joining and will be following in my brother's footsteps.

[00:04:41]Martell was a multi-talented man. He was going to college for engineering music alongside with being an artist. Martell had a great ear for music. He encouraged everyone around him to make music, including myself.

[00:04:54]He was the true definition of a multitasker and a go-getter. Martell was a huge inspiration to anyone who was around him or met him. He encouraged and displayed to others that any of your goals can be achieved. Martell was a very talented artistically. He was able to sketch drawings and paint beautiful murals of his interests such as his favorite basketball players. Did I mention that he was also very good at basketball? He pursued many careers such as an airman, an artist, a musician, an engineer, real estate, and a food connoisseur. Yes, he was a food lover such as myself. My brother and I had much in common.

[00:05:38]From our personalities, our talents, interests, down to our freckles. Being Martell's sister, his goal was to always make me happy or see me smile. He was loving, kind, patient, generous, and always looked out for others before himself. He loved everyone, especially his family, and wanted to see others come together. He was not a confrontational person. I am proud and thankful to have had Martell as my brother.

[00:06:06]>> Not a confrontational person. Hold on to that because the story you are about to hear is going to challenge everything you think you know about who the real victim was in that apartment on January 22nd.

[00:06:19]Martell lived alone in a one-bedroom unit at the towers at Lantara Parkway, a luxury apartment complex on the northwest side of San Antonio. He was building his life. A studio in his home, a label deal in his pocket, a show booked for that Saturday. And then there was Joya. Joya Jenkins Deruan, the woman who knew him longest. They had known each other since their teenage years.

[00:06:46]Martell went through basic training.

[00:06:48]They kept in touch across the distance.

[00:06:51]When it was over, they got married. That was 2007.

[00:06:56]By the time of his passing, they had been separated for about 2 years. Not divorced, just separated, living in different apartments only miles apart, renting out the house they had owned together. And even through the separation, they remained close. Joya was a hair stylist. She still did his hair. They talked often. He confided in her. They saw each other most weeks. In fact, just days before everything fell apart, Joya had gone to his apartment to get him ready for his Saturday show. He was happy. He was focused. He had a show on Saturday. He never made it to that stage. Now, to understand what happened to Martell Duan, you have to understand something that happened 2 years before his death in a completely different city involving a completely different man and involving the same woman. Her name was Sasha Scar. She was 21 years old at the time of Martell's death. Born in San Angelo, Texas, moved to San Antonio in the fifth grade, relocated to Florida for 2 years in high school. [music] Eventually settled in Austin with her mother. She was an aspiring singer and songwriter. She did freelance graphic design, logos, flyers, marketing for businesses. She had released music. She had performed shows. In July 2019, she released an album called Higher Quality Volume 1. In December 2020, just one month before Martell's death, she appeared on a web show called White Noise, talking about her music and a clothing line she was developing. On the surface, she was a young woman chasing her dreams, but underneath that surface, there was a documented history that most people around her may not have fully known about. November 29th, 2019, the day after Thanksgiving, Austin police responded to a shooting on North Lamar Boulevard. When they arrived, they found 21-year-old Andrew Bass in the back seat of a gray Kia Rio. He had been shot.

[00:08:59]Emergency responders performed CPR at the scene. Andrew Bass did not survive.

[00:09:05]He was 21 years old. He left behind a young daughter. Also at the scene, Sasha Scare. Sasha told police that she and Andrew had gone to meet someone to make a purchase. She said Andrew got out of the car and moments later she heard gunshots. She claimed she had no prior connection to the person they were meeting. But when investigators looked at the other man's phone, the messages told a completely different story. Sasha had known him since 2018. According to the evidence, Sasha had set up the meeting herself. When she and Andrew arrived, things turned violent. The other man was seriously injured. Andrew Bass was killed. Investigators concluded this was a planned robbery. Sasha was charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. She was eventually taken into custody by the Lonear Fugitive Task Force in December of 2019 after being featured on a local news segment called Marshall's Most Wanted. She posted bond in January 2020, signed a form declaring herself indigent. The Austin case was still pending when she walked into Martell Duan's life. And Andrew Bass's mother had something to say about all of it.

[00:10:11]>> Is ultimate betrayal. Andrew had came home and he had her with him and this [clears throat] is Sasha and she needs a place to stay. She was involved in an incident that resulted in the death of somebody. If she was charged correctly, then she wouldn't have been able to make bell and she wouldn't have been in San Antonio. Because if I would have pressed harder, I would have fought more, if I would have fought harder and she would be incarcerated and they wouldn't be dealing with this grief. And >> two families, two different cities, one woman connected to both and the system let her walk out of county jail on a promise to pay back onto the streets with an open violent felony case sitting in Travis County. Over time, the professional connection shifted into something more personal. By early 2020, while Martell and Joya were separated, Sasha and Martell had entered into a romantic relationship. Martell would drive from San Antonio to Austin to pick her up from her mother's house. She had no car of her own. He would bring her back to his apartment at the Towers, where she would visit a couple of times a month. What Martell allegedly did not know, and what the people closest to him may not have known either, was the full extent of what Sasha was already facing legally. the Austin case, the bond, the pending charges. He was helping someone he believed in, someone he thought he could pour into. And on the morning of January 22nd, 2021, he drove to Austin one more time to pick her up from her mother's house, just like he always did.

[00:11:43]They arrived back at his apartment around noon. They had plans. He had a show that Saturday. There was music to work on. There was a future being built.

[00:11:53]By 8:55 that evening, Martell Duan would be fighting for his life on the other side of his own front door. Here is what the evidence, the testimony, and the physical crime scene tell us about what happened inside that apartment on the night of January 22nd. After they arrived, the two of them spent the afternoon working on show preparations.

[00:12:14]Sasha had brought her art supplies. She had been working on a painting for the promotion of his upcoming performance.

[00:12:20]They had dinner. Marijuana was also reportedly involved that evening. Later, they settled in to watch a movie. And then Sasha received a FaceTime call. It was from a male photographer, a professional contact, someone she was reportedly trying to work with for her own music career. The call was on speaker. Martell could hear it from where he was sitting on the couch.

[00:12:42]According to Sasha's own testimony in court, that phone call is what triggered everything that followed.

[00:12:50]After the phone call, Sasha, what happened next?

[00:12:54]>> I had ended ended up going to lay down.

[00:12:57]>> Where did you go to lay down?

[00:12:59]>> In the bedroom on the bed.

[00:13:01]>> Okay. Um, just so we're clear, this is in Martell's apartment.

[00:13:05]>> Yes, sir.

[00:13:06]>> And how many bedrooms are in are in this apartment?

[00:13:08]>> Just one.

[00:13:09]>> Just one. You said you went after you laid down the bed. What happened next?

[00:13:15][snorts] >> I was getting ready to go to sleep. I was scrolling on my phone and Martel came into the room and turned the lights on.

[00:13:24]>> I'm sorry. I didn't go last part.

[00:13:26]>> He came into the room and turned the lights on.

[00:13:27]>> Turned the lights on?

[00:13:28]>> Yes.

[00:13:29]>> If he turned the lights on, is it a fair assumption to say the lights were off when you were laying down?

[00:13:33]>> Yes.

[00:13:34]>> Okay. After that, what happened?

[00:13:39]>> Um, he just asked me to leave his apartment.

[00:13:42]>> And you're not vain approach again?

[00:13:44]>> Yes.

[00:13:44]>> Thank you.

[00:13:47]Oh, >> you said that Martell came in and turned the lights on.

[00:13:51]>> Yes.

[00:13:52]>> What happened next?

[00:13:53]>> Um, he asked me to leave and I just asked him why.

[00:13:58]>> Okay.

[00:14:05]Um, you asked him why. Did Did he say anything else?

[00:14:09]>> Not that I remember. If I don't remember what he said, I know that we ended up getting into an argument. You had an argument?

[00:14:16]>> Yes.

[00:14:17]>> Okay. Um, did this verbal argument escalate into anything more physical?

[00:14:24]>> Yes, it did.

[00:14:25]>> Okay.

[00:14:32]Um, you testified that there was a physical altercation.

[00:14:36]Were you being hit?

[00:14:38]>> Yes, sir.

[00:14:39]>> Okay. Um, were [snorts] you lying? Where where were you when you were being hit?

[00:14:45]>> I was still on the same side of the bed.

[00:14:49]Um probably towards the middle of the bed, but on the same side.

[00:14:55]>> Okay.

[00:15:00]Just one second.

[00:15:04]>> I'm going to show you again what's been marked states exhibit number 54.

[00:15:10]I believe you testified that you were on an orientation of this picture up towards the top of the bed >> in the middle.

[00:15:18]>> In the middle.

[00:15:19]>> Yes.

[00:15:19]>> Okay.

[00:15:20]>> Um, at some point, did you crawl over the bed or get out of the bed?

[00:15:30]>> Yes. Once the bed had broken, he ended up falling off the bed and that's when I crawled across the bed.

[00:15:37]>> Okay. And you said you crawled across.

[00:15:39]>> Yes.

[00:15:39]>> You would have gone from the side that's closest to the window towards the side that's close to the closet door.

[00:15:45]>> Yes.

[00:15:45]>> Okay.

[00:15:47]>> Ma'am, I'm going to show you what's been marked as states exhibit number 75.

[00:15:52]You recognize this photo?

[00:15:55]>> I recognize what's in it? Yes.

[00:15:56]>> All right. And what's in it?

[00:15:58]>> It's a basket that was used as sort of like a drawer.

[00:16:03]>> Okay. Where was this drawer located?

[00:16:05]This makeshift drawer. in one of his nightstands.

[00:16:08]>> All right. I'm going to show you what's been marked to say exhibit 67, if you know. Is this the nightstand that it was placed into?

[00:16:16]>> No, sir.

[00:16:16]>> That is not the one. Okay, that's what we're asking. Um, was there a weapon located inside the makeshift drawer? I'm going back to states exhibit 75.

[00:16:28]>> Yes, there was.

[00:16:29]>> All right. Um, did you grab the weapon?

[00:16:34]>> Yes, I did.

[00:16:35]>> Okay. Why did you grab the weapon?

[00:16:39]>> I grabbed it to tell him after I grabbed it, I told him, "Don't touch me."

[00:16:45]>> Okay. Were you in fear for your life at that point?

[00:16:48]>> Yes, I was.

[00:16:49]>> Okay.

[00:16:51]And why were you in fear for your life?

[00:16:54]>> Cuz up until the bed had broke, he was still hitting me and I was unable to breathe. So, I was panicking at that point.

[00:17:10]After you grab the weapon, the gun, what happened next?

[00:17:16]>> I told him, "Don't touch me." I started backing up out of the bedroom. When I backed up out of the bedroom, he started following me. I started grabbing I started grabbing dishes out of the cabinets and throwing it in between us.

[00:17:34]>> Okay. Why exactly were you breaking uh dishes or throwing dishes at that point?

[00:17:40]>> Um to keep space between us.

[00:17:44]>> Were you in fear for Martel?

[00:17:46]>> I was at the time. Yes.

[00:17:49]>> Um after the dishes got broken, what happened next?

[00:17:54]>> After the dishes had got broken, I had to go over the kitchen counter and that's when I just ran outside the door.

[00:18:03]You went over the kitchen counter?

[00:18:05]>> Yes.

[00:18:06]>> And then you went outside the door?

[00:18:08]>> Yes.

[00:18:08]>> Okay. Did you have a weapon with you still?

[00:18:11]>> Yes, I did.

[00:18:12]>> All right. Um, did you have any shoes on when he left?

[00:18:18]>> No, I didn't.

[00:18:20]>> That was Sasha's version of events delivered on the stand under oath in a murder trial. And the physical evidence inside that apartment did confirm that something had happened in that bedroom.

[00:18:31]The bed frame was broken. The headboard was separated from the frame. Sheets twisted into a pile. A broken acrylic nail found on the bed. Broken dishes on the kitchen floor. So, something occurred inside those four walls that night. That part is not in dispute. But here is where Sasha's story starts to develop some very serious problems. She said she leapt over the kitchen counter barefoot to escape. But when investigators photographed that counter, three ceramic bowls were sitting on its surface, completely undisturbed, not shifted, not knocked over, not displaced in any way. She said Martell had been fighting her over her belongings. But when investigators documented her possessions inside the apartment, her purse, her art supplies, her overnight clothes, her shoes, all of it was neatly stacked, organized, undisturbed. She said she fled in fear for her life. But 2 days after the incident, on the advice of a lawyer, she took photos of a black eye and scratches on her neck. No hospital visit, no police report filed at the time of the alleged attack.

[00:19:36]Documentation created after the fact on legal advice. And perhaps most critically, the prosecution presented evidence at trial that Martell himself had sent text messages that night asking Sasha to leave and reportedly mentioned having to defend himself from her aggression, not the other way around.

[00:19:55]Now, here is the part that every single person watching this needs to understand. Sasha left that apartment.

[00:20:02]She made it out barefoot, yes, without her shoes. Yes, but she was out. She was in that hallway. She had a working phone. She had a loaded weapon in her hand. And within minutes, a neighbor lent her a phone charger. She had every resource available to her to call for help, call for a ride, and leave that building. Instead, she made a different choice. The neighbor who lived one floor below and caddy corner from Martell's unit was a man named Pedro Padilla. He had a Ring doorbell camera mounted in the hallway facing directly toward Martell's door. At approximately 8:55 that evening, Pedro Padilla stepped onto the elevator and he heard something.

[00:20:43]>> When I pressed the button, um, I heard a loud bang and then shortly after my elevator door opened and because of the where I live, I figured it was um, the Six Flags fireworks.

[00:21:00]>> It was not fireworks. His Ring camera had been recording the entire time and what it captured stopped investigators cold.

[00:21:07]>> On the Ring video, I saw uh the person later identified as the defendant uh walking in the hallway carrying a handgun and a phone. She had a phone in her left hand and handgun in her right hand.

[00:21:18]>> Green sundress, barefoot, phone in one hand, gun in the other. That was Sasha Scar captured on camera in that hallway with Martell's gun moving toward his door. And directly across the hall from Martell's unit, a neighbor named Caroline Ikeman was waiting on a food delivery. That evening, she heard knocking at the door across the hall and opened her own door, expecting her order.

[00:21:41]>> When I opened the door, I did not see the food, so I realized that there wasn't the door dash that was banging.

[00:21:48]And then I saw a woman that was banging on the unit across from my door.

[00:21:53]>> Can you describe this woman you saw?

[00:21:56]>> Yes. She was wearing a long green dress, sundress essentially all the way down to her feet. She was barefoot. She didn't have anything in her hands and she had hair that was about shoulder length.

[00:22:10]Caroline saw her hands as empty in that face tof face moment, but the Ring camera down that hallway told the complete story. Now, there is something important that investigators and forensic experts pointed out about the physical layout of that door. Something that one detail makes impossible to ignore. A peepphole goes dark when someone looks through it from the inside. Martell heard the banging. Of course, he did. The neighbor below him had audio recording from her ceiling of the yelling and things breaking, so Martell knew someone was at his door, and he did what any of us would do. He went to see who it was. The bullet hole was positioned slightly to the left of the door knocker, right next to the peepphole, at the exact height where a person's head would be if they were standing on the other side of that door looking through it. Forensic pathologist Dr. Samantha Evans performed the autopsy. Her testimony in court was precise. What I would consider the most significant injury is a gunshot wound to the right upper forehead. One shot through his own front door into his own home. Detective Lawrence Sai described it this way on the stand. Martell Deruan fell backward and the door deadbolted from the inside stayed closed. He was on the other side of that door for 4 days.

[00:23:25]4 days. His phone going unanswered. His car unmoved in the garage. His show on Saturday coming and going without him. 4 days before his stepmother called from Louisiana worried because nobody had heard from him. 4 days before a welfare check was requested. 4 days before a maintenance crew had to drill through the lock. Four days before the door finally opened. And right behind it, Martell Deruan gone. When did that first hurt you?

[00:23:55]>> Um well, his stepmom called me and she was like, "Have you heard from Martell?

[00:24:00]I've been trying to reach him." Um I told her no. I had spoke to him, I believe Friday night or Thursday night.

[00:24:08]I did his hair for him. and he said, "Hey, I got a show coming up Saturday night." You know, he [music] was really excited about it. So, I told her that. I was like, "Well, he had a show. Maybe he's tired." That's when everybody got worried. She had just done his hair. He had a show on Saturday. He was so happy.

[00:24:25]And now, the woman who loved him longest was standing in a parking lot surrounded by police tape, listening to his mother cry on the phone. While somewhere across that city, the woman who had been in that hallway was checking into a hotel.

[00:24:38]Let's talk about what happened after that door was opened because the investigation that followed is where this case goes from tragic to something that demands a much deeper conversation.

[00:24:48]When officers entered Martell's apartment on January 26th, 2021, the scene inside told a story that had been frozen in time for 4 days. Broken dishes on the kitchen floor. A destroyed bed frame. A headboard torn from the rest of the frame. Sheets twisted into a pile. A broken acrylic nail on the bed. A do-rag. Women's shoes near the window.

[00:25:11]An easel with an abandoned partially completed painting. An iPad on a foottool. Two glasses of Hennessy left unfinished. And in the closet, a Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol case empty. The gun itself was gone. Two debit cards were found inside that apartment, both with the same name on them, Sasha Scare.

[00:25:31]Investigators immediately began piecing together the hours before Martell was found. They pulled surveillance footage from the apartment complex. They canvased the building. They spoke to neighbors and then they found Pedro Padilla's ring camera footage. That footage plays Sasha Scare in that hallway on the night of January 22nd, barefoot, green sundress, phone in one hand, gun in the other, walking toward Martell's door. The evidence was already building, but investigators needed one more thing to connect everything. They needed to know who made that 911 call on the night of January 22nd. Police brought in Martell's aranged wife, Joya, for questioning. Her unexpected arrival at the scene had briefly put her on their radar, which when you think about it was exactly what that 911 call was designed to do. But the moment investigators played that recording for Joya, everything shifted.

[00:26:25]>> San Antonio 911. This is Brook. Do you need police fire or EMS?

[00:26:30]>> I need to address.

[00:26:33]>> It's 16735 Okconor. Not Okconor. Um, Washington Parkway >> 16735.

[00:26:44]>> Yes.

[00:26:44]>> Okay. It's a business.

[00:26:47]>> It's an apartment complex.

[00:26:48]>> What apartment number?

[00:26:51][clears throat] >> She um 165.

[00:26:59]>> Okay.

[00:27:01]16735.

[00:27:04]>> Yes.

[00:27:04]>> Okay. And this is the towers.

[00:27:07]>> Yes. Okay. And your name?

[00:27:10]>> My name is Joya Don.

[00:27:14]>> Okay. What's going on?

[00:27:16]>> Um I'm trying to get in my apartment, but I'm not able to get in and um I see like I'm just not able to get in and I think my husband injured.

[00:27:32]Your husband's hurt?

[00:27:34]>> Yes.

[00:27:36]>> Do you hear him?

[00:27:38]No, he's not responding. And I called him and um he's just not responding and there's a hole in his door.

[00:27:48]>> What information the defendant got incorrect or what misinformation the defendant provided to 911?

[00:27:57]>> Um well, number one, she pronounced my name wrong. My last name is not Duron, it's Duruan. She spelled it wrong. My first name, you couldn't tell whether she was going to spell it with a G or a J. It's with a J. And then Martell was not 28. He was 34.

[00:28:17]Um, just amongst a couple of other things that you know were in the tape.

[00:28:21]It just was all over the place. It wasn't the correct information at all.

[00:28:26]>> Can you please let me know if you recognize the individual in states exhibit number seven?

[00:28:30]>> Yes, it's Martell.

[00:28:32]>> And what condition is he in?

[00:28:33]>> Deceased.

[00:28:35]but that's not how we choose to remember him.

[00:28:38]>> And then investigators showed Joya the ring camera footage. She identified the woman in that hallway immediately. That was Sasha. Now, let's be very clear about what that 911 call actually was because it is one of the most critical pieces of this entire case. Sasha did not call 911 to report an emergency. She called 911 to create a story. She attempted to use Joya's identity to place herself in the role of a concerned wife, locked out, worried, [music] innocent. She reported the hole in the door because she already knew it was there. She knew exactly what was on the other side of that door. She just needed the police to find it in a way that pointed away from her. But she could not correctly spell the name she was borrowing. She gave her own old address instead of his. She got his age wrong by 6 years. She used a phone number that did not belong to Joya and apparently did not realize that 911 could trace it.

[00:29:33]And because she gave the wrong address, the operator sent officers to the wrong location. The call was closed. Nobody went to check on Martell that night or the next day or the day after that. The prosecution put it plainly during closing arguments. Coldblooded, she fired a shot through a door. She walked away. She disposed of the weapon in a nearby dumpster. Police searched every dumpster in the surrounding area and never recovered it. She went to a hotel.

[00:30:02]She left San Antonio and she made a phone call designed to put suspicion on the one woman who had no idea any of this had even happened. That is not panic. That is not trauma response. That is a sequence of calculated decisions made by someone who understood exactly what they had done and exactly what needed to happen next to avoid accountability. Sasha's photo was distributed across every media outlet in San Antonio. Local news stations ran the story. Friends posted to her Instagram account telling her to turn herself in.

[00:30:36]For approximately 2 weeks, nothing. And then on February 6th, 2021, Sasha Scar walked into a San Antonio police station and turned herself in. She was charged with firstdegree felony murder. Her bond was set at $500,000.

[00:30:54]More than two years passed between Sasha's arrest and the start of her trial. Two years of preparation, 2 years of legal proceedings, 2 years of Martell's family waiting for a courtroom to finally hear his name said properly.

[00:31:09]And then one week before the trial was scheduled to begin, Sasha was offered a way out. 20 years in prison, parole eligibility at 43. She turned it down.

[00:31:20]When asked later why she rejected that offer, she explained her reasoning on oxygen snapped. I was really just thinking about my son and I don't want to be away from him that long. That was really my main thoughts. So, I'm not going to just sign my life away like I at least want to put up some type of fight. She wanted to put up a fight.

[00:31:41]August 2023, the 186th District Court, San Antonio. Judge Christina Escalona presiding. Prosecutors Ashley Jones and Chris Ramos for the state. Defense attorneys Valerie Hedland and her team representing Sasha. On the first day of trial, the prosecution presented the 911 call, the ring camera footage, crime scene photographs, and forensic evidence. Joya Duan took the stand and identified the voice on the call and the woman in the footage. And the defense did not give an opening statement. They sat. They listened. They waited. That strategic decision alone tells you something. When you have no counternarrative strong enough to open with, you wait to hear the full weight of the evidence before committing to a story. Because the only story the defense had was going to come from one single witness, Sasha Scare herself. Day two of the trial. The defense called their one and only witness to the stand.

[00:32:43]>> Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you all are doing well. You had a good lunch. And thank you'all for being here this process.

[00:32:50]You've heard a lot of evidence before you. You've heard the what. You put the when, the where. Now you're going to hear about the why. I want you to pay attention during the state's case and I'm sorry to the defense's case and chief. You're going to hear from Miss Sasha Scar herself and you're going to hear version of events that happened that night. We're going to leave it up to you to make that decision. And ultimately at the end, we believe you will return the only verdict that makes sense, which is not guilty as to murder.

[00:33:16]Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.

[00:33:20]Not guilty as to murder. For anyone who had only seen the ring camera footage, the woman who walked into that courtroom was almost unrecognizable.

[00:33:29]2 and 1/2 years had passed between that hallway and that witness stand. Sasha Scare took her seat, soft-spoken, calm, composed, and she told her story. She walked the jury through meeting Martell when she was 17, the music collaborations, the flyers, the studio sessions, the eventual romantic relationship that developed years later, Martell driving to Austin to pick her up, the visits to his apartment a couple of times a month. She described the evening of January 22nd, arriving around noon, working on show preparations, cooking dinner, the movie, the Hennessy, and then the FaceTime call from the photographer.

[00:34:11]>> He was upset because he felt like I was on the phone with another man.

[00:34:19]>> Why did you grab the weapon? [snorts] >> I grabbed it to tell him after I grabbed it, I told him, "Don't touch me.

[00:34:28]Okay. Were you in fear for your life at that point?

[00:34:31]>> Yes, I was. I started backing up out of the bedroom. When I backed up out of the bedroom, he started following me. I started grabbing I started grabbing dishes out of the cabinets and throwing it in between us.

[00:34:46]She described grabbing the gun from a basket in one of the nightstands, throwing dishes on the floor between them to keep distance, going over the kitchen counter, running out the front door barefoot with only her phone and the gun. Then she described coming back.

[00:35:01]>> I went up and continued to try to get my stuff so I could leave.

[00:35:07]>> And back up, I have to ask you one thing. How long approximately were you trying to charge your phone for?

[00:35:13]I would say for 5 minutes.

[00:35:17]>> Okay.

[00:35:19]>> Um I believe you just said that you went back to the door trying to get your stuff.

[00:35:23]>> Yes.

[00:35:23]>> All right. Well, what was happening? How were you trying to get your stuff?

[00:35:28]>> Um I was knocking on the door and he just wouldn't answer.

[00:35:37]>> Okay. Um were you loudly knocking, yelling?

[00:35:41]>> Yes. Okay. Were you upset at that time?

[00:35:45]>> Yes.

[00:35:46]>> Sorry. Um, describe for us how were you banging on the door? [sighs] >> I was just banging on the door. I had the gun in my hands and I was banging on the door with the gun.

[00:36:00]>> You're banging on the door that had the firearm in your hand?

[00:36:03]>> Yes. I had my phone in one hand and I had the gun in the other hand.

[00:36:07]>> Okay. And then the defense asked the question the entire trial had been building toward.

[00:36:12]>> At some point Yeah. And please uh please keep your voice up. I know you're soft spoken.

[00:36:18]>> At some point was the shot fired?

[00:36:21]>> Yes, sir.

[00:36:22]>> All right. How I want you to demonstrate for the jury. How exactly was the gun discharged?

[00:36:30]>> As I was knocking on the door. As I was knocking on the door, I just threw the gun up and just the gun went off.

[00:36:41]>> Yes.

[00:36:41]>> Okay. Um, thank you.

[00:36:50]>> Yeah. And just so we're clear, could you see Martell at all? I know sometimes well some people you can kind of see a light difference. Could you see anything beyond the people? Okay. Do you have any idea that Martell was standing behind that door?

[00:37:04]And we can sit back.

[00:37:25]>> Miss car, when you fired that shot, did you know Martell was behind that door?

[00:37:29]>> No, sir. I didn't.

[00:37:30]>> Did you mean to hurt or tell?

[00:37:33]>> Not at all.

[00:37:34]>> Tell the story. What was your intent when when that gun fired?

[00:38:07]I guess my intent was just to get his attention.

[00:38:14]>> I guess my intent was just to get his attention. That was the answer. under oath in a murder trial for a man found dead on the other side of that door with a bullet wound to his right upper forehead at the exact height of the peepphole. That was the answer. Now, let's talk about what the prosecution did with it because this is where the entire defense collapsed not from the outside but from within its own testimony. Prosecutor Chris Ramos stood up for cross-examination and he did not need to raise his voice once. He started with the physics.

[00:38:49]>> Based on your testimony, it is my understanding that you knew Martell for several years. Correct.

[00:38:55]>> Yes, sir.

[00:38:56]>> And during that time, you guys worked together?

[00:39:00]>> Yes, sir.

[00:39:00]>> And during that time, as time went on, you became intimate partners together.

[00:39:04]>> Yes, sir.

[00:39:06]>> And [snorts] you shared an intimal relationship together?

[00:39:09]>> Yes, sir.

[00:39:10]>> And I presume you cared about me?

[00:39:12]>> Yes, I did.

[00:39:15]And on January 22nd, you were at his residence. You were painting at some point, correct?

[00:39:22]>> Yes, sir.

[00:39:23]>> And you describe all the things that you you did with him or in the apartment.

[00:39:27]Correct.

[00:39:28]>> Yes, sir.

[00:39:29]>> And you described the circumstance in which you're in the bedroom on the bed and Martell comes in and he says, "Get your stuff and get out."

[00:39:38]>> Mhm.

[00:39:39]>> Correct.

[00:39:39]>> Yes, sir. And in your it is your testimony that came out out of the blue.

[00:39:44]>> Yes, sir.

[00:39:44]>> He just smacked him out of the blue.

[00:39:46]>> Yes, sir.

[00:39:47]>> And you testified in direct. Martell tried grabbing your stuff and you tried grabbing it back. Correct.

[00:39:55]>> Yes, sir.

[00:39:55]>> What stuff was that?

[00:39:57]>> It was a couple of clothes that I had to stay the night.

[00:40:00]>> Couple of clothes.

[00:40:01]>> Yes.

[00:40:01]>> That you had like a a shirt and a pen >> and you grab them.

[00:40:06]>> No, it was in a bag that I had and he had the bag.

[00:40:08]>> Okay. All right. And what bag was that?

[00:40:11]>> Um, it was the bag that was in the photo to the right of the bed.

[00:40:18]>> And you grab him back.

[00:40:19]>> Yes.

[00:40:20]>> Right.

[00:40:22][snorts] Immediately after that, what's the very next thing that happened?

[00:40:28]>> That's when he tuckled me onto the bed.

[00:40:31]>> Okay. And what happened immediately after that?

[00:40:34]>> He just started hitting me.

[00:40:36]>> Okay. And what happened immediately after that?

[00:40:40]>> Once he started hitting me, he was choking me um to the point where I couldn't breathe. Then the bed had collapsed and he had fell off of me.

[00:40:51]>> Okay. And at some point you leave the bedroom and go into the kitchen.

[00:40:54]Correct.

[00:40:54]>> Yes.

[00:40:55]>> And you start throwing things at him to keep them away from you. Correct.

[00:40:59]>> Not at him, just at the floor.

[00:41:01]>> At the floor. Okay. If somebody's coming at you after having just choked you and you're not throwing anything at them, you're throwing them on the floor.

[00:41:08]>> Yes.

[00:41:09]>> Great space.

[00:41:10]>> Yes.

[00:41:10]>> Okay.

[00:41:13]And you described at this moment that you are so afraid for your life that you grab a gun. Correct.

[00:41:20]>> Yes.

[00:41:20]>> Okay. So, it is your testimony at this point in time you're scared to death.

[00:41:24]Would that be a fair assessment?

[00:41:26]>> Yes, sir.

[00:41:27]>> You called to 911. Correct.

[00:41:31]That was one of the calls that I made.

[00:41:32]Yes.

[00:41:32]>> Yes. Now, it's your testimony that you went back to the apartment and started banging on the door again. Correct.

[00:41:40]>> Yes.

[00:41:41]>> And you had the gun with you?

[00:41:42]>> Yes.

[00:41:43]>> So, it is your testimony that you're still scared to death while you're in the apartment, you leave with a gun, and you come back to the same place where you're afraid. Right. Is that your testimony?

[00:41:57]>> Yes, sir. So instead of calling 911 and saying, "Hey, I've just been assaulted.

[00:42:05]I've just been choked." You didn't do that, correct?

[00:42:08]>> No sir, I didn't.

[00:42:09]>> You had a gun in your hand and you could have found a safe place to remain and call police. Correct.

[00:42:14]>> Yes, sir.

[00:42:14]>> Did you do that?

[00:42:15]>> No, sir, I didn't.

[00:42:17]>> And when the prosecutor asked her the one question, her entire defense could not survive.

[00:42:22]>> You're raising the gun. And why are you raising the gun?

[00:42:31]I guess cuz at the time I just went mad. I just wouldn't say.

[00:42:39]>> Why are you raising the gun?

[00:42:44]>> For what function? To what reason are you raising the gun?

[00:42:49]to I wouldn't necessarily say to shoot it because been wild. [snorts] >> There would be no other answer. But >> the other answer is that you were angry decided to shoot at you. That would be another reason why you went together.

[00:43:18]That's I didn't decide to shoot at him though.

[00:43:21]>> I just went mad. 2 and 1/2 years of preparation, a murder trial, a jury watching every word, a family sitting in that courtroom, and that was the answer.

[00:43:32]I just went mad. That is not a legal defense. That is not self-defense. That is not accidental discharge. That is a person telling you in their own words that in a moment of rage they raised a gun and fired it at a closed door knowing a man was on the other side of it. Because here is what the prosecution argued and what the physical evidence supports. A peepphole goes dark when someone looks through it from the inside. Martell heard the banging. He approached the door. He looked through that peepphole to see who was there. The moment that peepphole went dark, she knew exactly where he was standing. and to find her guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter, the jury would have had to believe her story. Prosecutor Ashley Jones addressed that directly. The defense closed by arguing that Sasha never intended to kill Martell, that the confrontation had been real, that her injuries were genuine, that her fear in that moment had been real. That is true.

[00:44:29]Banging on the door, he's silent.

[00:44:31]Silent. So, she's banging with that gun.

[00:44:34]She wants to get his attention and say, "Open the door. I need my stuff." Steps back, pulls the gun up, and the gun goes off as she's pulling it up. And I'm not saying goes off accidentally. She admits to pulling the trigger. She's owning it.

[00:44:50]She stood in the light and said it.

[00:44:54]She didn't accidentally discharge it as it's coming up. She pulled it up and fired. Unfortunately, I speculate Martell looking to see if it's the police leans down to a really low peepphole and this horrific horrific thing happens. Martell gets shot straight in the head and falls dead to the floor.

[00:45:17]>> Martell is not here to tell his side of this story. He never got that chance.

[00:45:21]And that absence, that permanent silence is exactly why the physical evidence, the camera footage, the forensic testimony, the 911 recording, and her own words on that stand mattered as much as they did. Because when a person cannot speak for themselves, the truth has to speak through everything they left behind. The jury deliberated for just over 2 hours. 12 jurors, 12 yes answers, 2 hours.

[00:45:53]I do find that your verdict is in proper form and I do accept your verdict. And if Miss Scar could please rise in 2021 CR 3863, the state of Texas versus Sasha Scar. Punishment verdict.

[00:46:08]We the jury having found that the defendant is guilty of the offense of murder now return this verdict as to her punishment.

[00:46:16]One, we assess her punishment at confinement in the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for a term of 55 years.

[00:46:26]In addition, we assess no fine. Signed, the presiding juror. Does any side have a motion?

[00:46:34]>> Call the jury, please.

[00:46:35]>> Yes, you may have a seat.

[00:46:37]Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to engage in the polling process. Once again, I am going to assign you a number starting with the gentleman in the back, rounding into and ending with the presiding juror. Juror number one, is this your verdict?

[00:46:52]>> Juror number two, is this your verdict?

[00:46:54]>> Juror number three, is this your verdict?

[00:46:56]>> Yes.

[00:46:57]>> Juror number four, is this your verdict?

[00:46:59]>> Yes.

[00:47:00]>> Juror number five, is this your verdict?

[00:47:02]>> Juror number six, is this your verdict?

[00:47:05][snorts] >> Juror number seven, is this your verdict?

[00:47:07]>> Yes.

[00:47:08]>> Juror number eight, is this your verdict? Yes.

[00:47:10]>> Juror number nine, is this your verdict?

[00:47:12]>> Yes. [snorts] >> Juror number 10, is this your verdict?

[00:47:15]>> Yes.

[00:47:15]>> Juror number 11, is this your verdict?

[00:47:17]>> Yes.

[00:47:17]>> And juror number 12, is this your verdict?

[00:47:21]>> Are there any other motions from either side?

[00:47:24]>> Defense, your honor.

[00:47:25]>> And if Miss Scar could please rise, Mr. Le Hood, is there any legal reason why Miss Scar cannot be sentenced today?

[00:47:34]>> No, your honor.

[00:47:35]>> Miss Scar, there be no legal reason that I cannot sentence you today. It is the judgment of the court in accordance with the punishment verdict of this jury that you serve 55 years in the Texas Department of Cex in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division. There will be no fine. You will be getting credit for the time that you've served. You may have a seat, Miss Scarf. And I understand there is victim impact. Yes, ma'am.

[00:48:00]>> Okay. If we could reconfigure the court for victim impact, please.

[00:48:22]I am Tammy Duo. I am Martell Duan's sister. Martell was a phenomenal man. He was an amazing son, brother, husband, family member, and friend. My brother was not only a musical artist with musical pursuits via Empire and the Orchid/Sony Music. Alongside with working with major producers and other artists, he was a disabled veteran who served six years in the United States Air Force in the Intel department, which I am joining and will be following in my brother's footsteps.

[00:48:59]Martell was a multi-talented man. He was going to college for engineering music alongside with being an artist. Martell had a great ear for music. He encouraged everyone around him to make music, including myself. He was the true definition of a multitasker and a go-getter. Martell was a huge inspiration to anyone who was around him or met him. He encouraged and displayed to others that any of your goals can be achieved. Martell was a very talented artistically. He was able to sketch drawings and paint beautiful murals of his interests such as his favorite basketball players. Did I mention that he was also very good at basketball? He pursued many careers such as an airman, an artist, a musician, an engineer, real estate, and a food connoisseur. Yes, [snorts] he was a food lover such as myself. My brother and I had much in common.

[00:49:56]From our personalities, our talents, interests, down to our freckles. Being Martell's sister, his goal was to always make me happy or see me smile. He was loving, kind, patient, generous, and always looked out for others before himself. He loved everyone, especially his family, and wanted to see others come together. He was not a confrontational person. I am proud and thankful to have had Martell as my brother.

[00:50:25]Sasha, the pain and agony that you've brought upon my family is unbearable. You deserve every single consequence that you've caused from your own actions.

[00:50:35][snorts] Nothing in this world that one does will ever go unanswered. Remember that. Look at what you've done. You've gathered everyone together OUT OF YOUR OWN selfishness just to give viewed as the person YOU TRULY AND EXACTLY ARE. HOW DOES IT FEEL?

[00:50:54]YOU DESERVE THIS. YOUR TIME IS up and the time has come for you to pay for what you've done.

[00:51:01]Lying, manipulating, deceiving, hurting, and destroying others emotionally and physically get you nowhere in life but the place you will be suffering is for the rest of your life. So fix your sheets if you have ANY BECAUSE YOU'VE MADE your bed and now it's time to lay in it.

[00:51:20]>> It's just a big loss that he's not there with us and we're trying to pull it together but it's very very hard. Hey is it's very hard. I haven't slept in a very long time. Um, it's just as a mother to lose a son and to lose him that way is it's just it's unimaginable and I wouldn't wish that on anybody.

[00:51:44]Nobody ever.

[00:51:45]>> We all going through a real difficult time right now.

[00:51:48]>> Everything that he taught me. I know that um he wouldn't want us crying.

[00:51:56]real, subtle, quiet, the kind of person this world does not make enough of. I want to sit with this community for a moment before we close because this story is not just a true crime case. It carries something in it that we need to talk about. Honestly, Martell Duan was a man who saw potential in someone and extended his hand. He gave his time, his studio, his resources, his vehicle, and eventually his trust to a person who had a documented history of violence that he may not have fully known about. And that raises a question that is not about blame. It is about awareness. How well do we actually know the people we invite into our most private spaces? Not their social media presence, not the version they show when things are going well, but their full history, their patterns, their relationship with accountability, because patterns do not lie. And the pattern in this case was visible long before January 22nd, 2021. It was documented. It was on record in another county with another family still grieving. Andrew Bass's mother said it plainly, >> his ultimate betrayal. Andrew had came home and you he had her with him and this is Sasha and she needs a place to stay. She was involved in an incident that resulted in the death of somebody.

[00:53:12]If she was charged correctly, then she would have been able to make bell and she wouldn't have been in San Antonio because if I would have pressed harder, I would have fought more if I would have fought harder and she would be incarcerated and they wouldn't be dealing with this grief.

[00:53:30]Two families, two cities, one pattern that the system did not stop in time.

[00:53:36]That is not said to excuse anything or deflect responsibility from where it belongs. What happened to Martell Duan is the direct result of choices that Sasha Scar made fully. The jury confirmed that. The evidence confirmed that. But there is also a lesson here about what happens when we extend grace and access to people who have not demonstrated they can be trusted with either. Martell was not naive. He was generous. There is a difference. But generosity without information is a risk and in certain circumstances, a fatal one. The second thing I want to leave with this community is this. Cammy Duan walked into that courtroom carrying the full weight of her brother's absence.

[00:54:16]She sat through every day of testimony.

[00:54:19]She heard every lie told on that stand.

[00:54:21]She watched the woman who took her brother from this world cry without a single tear. And when it was her turn to speak, she did not fall apart. She stood. She spoke clearly. She honored her brother with precision and love. And then she announced that she was joining the Air Force intelligence department in his name. She turned devastation into direction. That is what legacy looks like. Not a hashtag, not a [music] moment, a life redirected in honor of a life that was taken. Martell Duan's story does not end in that hallway. It continues in every person he poured into. every artist he helped, every person sitting in this community right now who knows his name and understands what he stood for. Martell Duan was 34 years old. He was a veteran, an artist, a son, a brother, a husband, a friend.

[00:55:10]He had a show that Saturday. He was so happy. Rest in peace, Martell. If this story moved you, if it made you think, made you feel, made you want to say something, drop it in the comments. This community deserves to have these conversations out loud. Share this with somebody who needs to hear it. And if you have not already, subscribe because stories like this one deserve to be told with the care and the truth they have earned. This is Deadly Affairs. I'll see you in the next one.