A Michigan resident was sentenced to a minimum of 27 years on Friday for shooting a father of two during a road-rage incident in 2014.
Martin Edward Zale, 69, was convicted in May for second-degree murder and firearms charges stemming from the September 2014 shooting of 43-year-old Derek Flemming.
Flemming and his wife were on their way to pick up their children when Zale’s pickup truck nearly struck their SUV. Flemming followed Zale to a red light where he exited his vehicle and “briskly” approached the driver’s side and began “banging” the vehicle with his fist, Zale testified.
“…I rolled down the window and told him to stop it,” Zale said. “I like a nice-looking vehicle.”
Zale claimed Flemming hit him in the side of the face and reached his arms and head inside the driver’s window to try and open the door. Zale then grabbed his 9mm handgun on the passenger seat and shot Flemming in the head.
“When I saw him get shot… he just fell like a tree” a bus driver testified.
This was not the first time Zale was involved in a road-rage incident. A man testified he and Zale were involved in a confrontation in 2008 when the two of them turned onto the same road. He said Zale followed him into a McDonald’s where Zale confronted him, asking “Bro, what’s your problem?”
A former manager at McDonald’s witnessed the scuffle and said Zale pushed the other man and then punched him.
The defense centered on Michigan’s stand your ground law, which says an individual may use deadly force to prevent against imminent death or great bodily harm. Defense attorney Melissa Pearce said it was “clearly self-defense” because her client “felt threatened for his life.”
Assistant Prosecutor Dan Rose argued differently: “This is not a case of standing your ground… don’t buy it. This is not a case of self-defense, but a case of murder.”
Judge Miriam Cavanaugh said she found no compelling reasons for leniency. “You were a shooting waiting to happen,” she said. “If it hadn’t been Mr. Flemming, it would have been someone else.”
“What I also find very tragic about this situation, Mr. Zale, is your disregard for human life,” the judge said. “You went about your day almost looking for conflict, not trying to avoid it.”
The victim’s father, Marvin Flemming, also addressed the court, calling it “the worst day of his life.”
Zale will not be eligible for parole until he is 96, essentially making this a life sentence. Prosecutor William Vailliencourt deemed the sentence “appropriate.”
The defense plans to appeal the verdict.