Comanche County case ends with mistrial

A mistrial was declared about 10 p.m. Wednesday in the case of a man accused of shooting another man over a lighter in 2022.

The Comanche County jury began deliberations about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday and was unable to come to a decision.

District Attorney Kyle Cabelka said the jury was hung 10-2 toward guilty. He said the case will be retried unless John Benge Bourne enters a plea deal.

It was a trial marked by the prosecution’s contention that Bourne shot and killed Ian Martinez over a perceived slight from a joke about a stolen lighter on April 10, 2022.

The defense claimed he shot in self-defense.

Bourne also was charged of being a felon in possession of a firearm; Bourne’s prior criminal record was withheld from the jury until after deliberations for the murder count. The jury did not hear evidence on that charge since a mistrial was declared.

Bourne has prior felony convictions: South Carolina jurisdiction, November 2012, second-degree burglary; and Comanche County, February 2019, convicted felons prohibited from carrying firearms, according to Oklahoma Department of Corrections records.

Bourne admitted to police he shot and killed Ian Martinez during the incident. Witnesses described the shooting as being predicated over a perceived slight from a joke about a stolen lighter the morning of April 10, 2022. Martinez was struck in the neck with a bullet from Bourne’s .22 caliber revolver.

According to testimony from Melinda Miller, whom Bourne found shelter with following the incident, he told her Ian Martinez had been coming at him and he feared for his life when he pulled the trigger.