Deliberations begin in manslaughter trial; Redding man faces four years in prison

Schauman's attorney says Schauman punched Martinez in an effort to defend his girlfriend.

More than two years after the death of Adam Martinez, a Shasta County jury began deliberations mid-Friday afternoon in the involuntary manslaughter trial of the Redding man who threw the punch that killed him.

Lennart Christian Schauman, 32, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter and battery causing great bodily injury in connection with the 2009 death of the 31-year-old Martinez, faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

The eight-woman, four-man jury, which began its deliberations shortly after 3 p.m., recessed at 4:30 p.m. It will resume its deliberation on Tuesday.

During closing arguments on Friday, Shasta County Deputy District Attorney Laura Smith urged the jury to find Schauman guilty on both criminal counts.

"This case is about a sucker punch (thrown) in a fit of jealousy," said Smith.

She said Schauman hit Martinez simply for talking to his now former girlfriend, Kathie Willoughby, at the now-closed Club Ice nightclub on Bechelli Lane during early on the morning of April 25, 2009.

"He willfully walked up (to Martinez) and clocked him," said Smith.

Calling his actions criminally negligent, Smith said Schauman's claims he hit Martinez to protect Willoughby from being assaulted were nothing less than a lie crafted over time to avoid the truth of what happened because "the truth was bad to him."

"His story has evolved over the years" in an "attempt to justify his fit of jealousy" and to "manufacture doubt," she said

Schauman's Redding defense attorney, Joe Gazzigli, called Martinez's death a "tragedy," but said his client truly believed Willoughby was being assaulted by Martinez and came to her defense.

"That's what this case is all about," he said. "He sees his girlfriend being assaulted and battered."

Displaying a series of still photographs taken from a video that shows Schauman hitting Martinez, Gazzigli said a photograph captured only moments before the fatal punch was thrown shows Martinez with his hands on Willoughby, who was backed up to a stage railing.

"He (Schauman) felt he had to act," he said.

The punch knocked Martinez out and he never regained consciousness after falling to the dance floor and fracturing his skull.

Martinez died May 14, 2009, at Mercy Medical Center in Redding.

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