Following hung jury, Lawton man pleads to murder

After a hung jury caused a mistrial last week, a Lawton man pleaded guilty to shooting another man to death over a lighter in 2022.

John Benge Bourne, 36, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Comanche County District Court to second-degree murder and possession of a firearm after former felony conviction.

Chief District Judge Grant Sheperd sentenced Bourne to 25 years with the Department of Corrections with 13 years to serve and 12 years suspended for the murder count and a 10 year suspended sentence for the gun charge to run consecutive with the murder charge. He will also have to pay $6,130.26 in court costs and fines.

Following three days of trial last week, a Comanche County jury deliberate 8½ hours before it ended with a 10-2 hung jury.

With his plea, Bourne admitted he shot and killed Ian Martinez over a perceived slight from a joke about a stolen lighter on April 10, 2022.

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.

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’s five-year suspended sentence from his 2019 conviction was also revoked. His sentence will be concurrent with the murder charge and he will receive credit for time served..