Christy Martin - The Fight of Her Life
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The coal miner's daughter, Christine Martin. Christine Martin was a public figure, a sports star, a pioneer. She put boxing on the map for females. She was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. She made millions of dollars boxing. Christy was married to Jim Martin. Jim was a boxing trainer, and Jim trained her. For years it was Christy and Jim as a team together. I think that the marriage between Jim and Christy was professionally driven, where at first they used each other to both get ahead. It's number twenty-teens to say before the verses, Jim and Sweetheart. This is one of the most memorable cases I had, and approximately five thousand that I handled as a prosecutor. It has a little bit of everything. You have drugs, there's a sex tape, this is one of the most fascinating cases I've ever been a part of. What did you want the jury to know about this marriage? That Jim Martin wasn't a loving, caring husband. Jim's control led to psychological abuse, physical abuse. He started to provide her with controlled substances, and would put Christy in a very compromised position to where she had to rely on Jim, or else her career would be over. Christy had told him that she wanted out of the relationship. How did Jim take the news that Christy wanted out? Like his world was collapsing. How did he take the news that she was seeing someone else? Horribly. But I don't think anybody truly believes that the person that you've built a life with would all of a sudden turn and want you dead. Inside the couple's Orange County home, James Martin stabbed his wife with a buck knife four times in the chest and back. He then ultimately gets a firearm. He stands over her and shoots her in the chest. So Jim pleads not guilty. What's your reaction? Expected. She's the one that had the gun. Jim was just trying to defend himself and they fought over the gun. There is not convincing evidence, in this case, beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Martin intended to kill Christy. The way Jim described it, Christy was hooked on drugs, and she was extremely aggressive. She was constantly afraid of physical attacks by her. It's not every day that the target of a murder ends up living to tell their story on the stand. It's her hair. At this time, the state of Florida calls Christy Martin. Christy was the boxer, Jim was the opponent, the jury was the audience, and the judge was the referee. And Christy had always talked about she wanted to win 50 fights in her life. Well, Christy won 49 professional boxing matches in her career. That courtroom was the 50th fight.
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A boxer is shot and stabbed by her husband but refuses to go down for the count. "48 Hours" contributor David Begnaud reports.