RUSS MARTIN INTERVIEW

Janet St. James reports

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Related links:

• READ: The arrest warrant and affidavit (pdf)
• 7/19/08: Dallas DJ arrested in Southlake
• 7/21/08: Woman says she was assaulted
• 7/21/08: Protective order issued against radio host
• 7/22/08: Martin remains off the air
• 12/9/08: Martin fired from 105.3 FM
• 7/10/09: Russ Martin enters plea on assault charge
• LINK: The Russ Martin Show official site
• MORE: Entertainment news

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COLLIN COUNTY — He's been off the airwaves and tightlipped for a year now.

Russ Martin, the once top-rated radio host at Live 105, is talking for the first time about his arrest for domestic assault.

He spoke exclusively to News 8 in a candid interview.

Martin had planned on discussing the fight he had with his girlfriend on his radio show, the day after the July 14, 2008 incident. That didn't happen because he was arrested by Southlake police as he worked out at Larry North fitness before his popular Russ Martin Show began.

He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The charge was later reduced to misdemeanor assault.

Martin's attorney would later advise him to keep quiet until the case was resolved. The Russ Martin Show and other programs were pulled from the air when the CBS-owned station suddenly switched to sports talk radio in December.

Martin has been off the air ever since.

From his mansion in Collin County (complete with a statue of Jack Daniels and a signature Batman rock), Martin explained that last July's argument started when his girlfriend missed an IRS deadline over property taxes.

St. James: "Did you touch her in any sort of aggressive way?"

Martin: "No."

St. James: "You didn't touch her at all?"

Martin: "Again, you're talking about a year ago on a night that in my mind, nothing really happened except I was an ass, I busted her laptop, and I asked her to leave."

According to the original arrest warrant, Martin did more than that — pulling his girlfriend's hair, kicking her, and causing bruises — all of which Martin denies.

St. James: "You didn't ask her to leave, you yelled at her to leave, right?"

Martin: "Probably."

St. James: "But you did not touch her?"

Martin: "No."

St. James: "So why would she file a police report claiming you did?"

Martin: "According to her and her complaint against Southlake, she went there to see what her rights were to get her stuff back. And that's when it turned into whatever it turned into."

What it has turned into is a year-long nightmare for Martin and his girlfriend, who News 8 has chosen not to name.

On February 10, 2009, nearly eight months after the incident, she filed a complaint with the Southlake police department, claiming she had been "coerced" into making a statement for what she considered a "very minor incident." Southlake police declined comment on the internal matter.

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News 8 obtained several grainy black and white police photographs of the alleged bruises.

We also asked Martin about the Glock pistol mentioned in the original report.

St. James "There were allegations that you had allegedly pointed a gun at your girlfriend. Did that happen?"

Martin: "No."

St. James: "Was there a gun?"

Martin: "Yes."

St. James: "Did you show her a gun?"

Martin: "I saw the gun laying on the counter and because we were having an argument, I thought it was probably best to unload it, throw it in drawer, just so it didn't become an issue."

St. James: "And you don't think that even touching a gun in the middle of a heated argument would somehow be threatening to her?"

Martin: "No."

The weapons charge was later dropped, but Tarrant County continued to pursue the case.

Assistant district attorney Sean Colston cites a "No Drop Policy" in alleged domestic violence cases. The policy applies even when witnesses recant their story or refuse to testify.

"It's not uncommon for victims in these offenses to come back and they want to drop charges, for whatever reason; for reasons that they're fearful, whether it's an economic reason... so it's not unusual for them to drop charges," he said.

Colston says the law is designed to make sure frightened domestic battery victims get justice and abusers get help before the situation worsens.

Martin said no one from the DA's office or Southlake police has ever contacted him to get his side of the story.

Yet two weeks before the scheduled July 27 trial date, Martin accepted a plea bargain.

St. James: "So, are you innocent?"

Martin: "Yes."

St. James: "Then why did you plead no contest?"

Martin: "That was the only way out of this for me and her family."

St. James: "So you did it because you're a good guy?"

Martin: "No. Mostly I'm a coward. And this is probably one of the few times I've stood up and said I'm going to eat this for somebody else. But it was also easier on me, because we didn't have to go through the trial. I didn't have to watch her go through this grief, and I didn't have to suffer with it. So it's a double-edged sword. But I knew when I walked into the courtroom and I saw her family and they were all grief-stricken, I knew I was doing — one of the few times in my life — the right thing."

If Martin fulfills two years of deferred probation and successfully completes a batterer's intervention program, the incident will disappear from his record.

But he knows the arrest and the mug shot will follow him forever — something he hopes will become funny fodder for a radio show some day.

News 8 offered Russ Martin's girlfriend the chance to participate in this report. She did not respond to our request.

E-mail jstjames@wfaa.com