SANDERSVILLE, Ga. — Editor's Note: The video in this story is from an event last month where people gathered to remember Eurie Martin.
Georgia Supreme Court justices questioned Thursday whether a Washington County man committed any crime before being fatally tased by deputies three years ago.
The state's highest court heard arguments on whether murder charges should be re-instated against three former deputies.
Their lawyer says the three should be immune from prosecution because they were just doing their jobs.
In July 2017, the officers responded to a suspicious-person call along Deepstep Road. Eurie Martin had walked into a man's yard to ask him for water on that 100-degree day.
Two of the officers tased Martin after he ignored them and tried to walk away.
Martin, 58, died at the scene.
The officers' lawyer argued that they were defending themselves, but prosecutor Kelly Weathers said Martin committed no crime and had the right to ignore the deputies.
"There was never any reasonable suspicion (of a crime)," she told the justices. "Mr. Martin was exercising his right to walk away."
She also said the deputies had no right to handcuff Martin and take him into custody because he'd committed no crime.
"Mr. Martin's detention was unlawful and because it was unlawful, he had the right to resist it. His actions were lawful," she said.
Based on their questions, several justices seemed to agree. They questioned defense lawyer Shawn Merzlak about what crime the officers believed Martin had committed.
Merzlak mentioned littering because Martin had thrown his Coke can in the roadway. Justices questioned if that was actually littering.
Another justice noted that Martin was also suspected of loitering & asked "Are you actually defending that?"
Merzlak responded with, "I'm not too impressed by that."
Both lawyers got 20 minutes to make their case via Zoom and answer questions.
The court did not rule Thursday on whether to bring back those murder charges, and there's no word on when they expect to decide.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE