Martin Cases To Begin In 3 Counties This Month

By Benjamin Cox on September 7, 2020 at 1:23pm

A Macoupin County woman’s trials continue to be delayed because of attorneys vacating the case. 23 year old Abigail L Martin continues to have attorneys withdraw from her case of identity theft and practicing as a nurse without a license in a Hillsboro long-term care facility. Martin’s original attorney in Montgomery County, Sean Rees of Carlinville, withdrew from her case on May 13th, and she then retained Alan Pretnar of Taylor Springs as her private attorney. In a Zoom hearing on July 30th, Pretnar issued his motion to withdraw from the case. Montgomery County Public Defender Erin S. Mattson has now taken over the case as of August 20th. A pre-trial hearing is set in Montgomery County for next Monday, September 14th.

In Morgan County Court, Public Defender Tom Piper is handling Martin’s case in which she is charged with forgery. Martin is alleged to have forged documents at a local car dealership in Jacksonville to purchase a car under false pretenses in April 2019. She has appeared in Morgan County Court several times with 4 different attorneys in the case until Piper’s assignment.

Martin is also set to appear in a jury trial in Sangamon County Court on a forgery charge. The Village of Pawnee is alleging she wrote false checks for water payments. She is set to appear in Sangamon County Court on September 21st with public defender Stephanie Hammer.

Martin is also allegedly wanted on out-of-state warrants in North Carolina and South Carolina for procurement of goods under false pretenses. There has been no information released on the warrants in those states at this time.