Published: October 01, 2007 11:17 pm      

TDCJ report: Officers opened fire on inmates

A Texas Department of Criminal Justice report obtained by The Item claims that four corrections officers opened fire on two inmates who, during an escape attempt Sept. 24, killed a woman officer.

Jerry Duane Martin, 37, and his partner, John Ray Falk Jr., 40, ran down corrections officer Susan Canfield, 59, after the duo stole a City of Huntsville vehicle from the service center adjacent to a Wynne Unit field where they were working.

The “Emergency Action Center Daily Executive Summary” report from Tuesday, Sept. 25 — the day after the escape attempt — claims that Martin struggled with a 29-year-old male corrections officer for his weapon, then tossed the weapon to Falk.

With the rifle in hand, Falk began firing on Canfield, a level 4 corrections officer, who according to the report returned fire.

Three other male corrections officer — a 46-year-old sergeant, a 49-year-old level 5 officer and a 58-year-old level 4 officer — then “returned fire,” according to the report.

The one-page report, obtained from an anonymous source, is a summary of “major incidents” the center processed on Sept. 24.

Three different sources — two former and one current employee of TDCJ — claimed the report to look “authentic.” One source familiar with the EAC said the report was “identical” to reports that person had seen working for the agency.

The Item had reported on Sept. 25 that one of the inmates had distracted Canfield by handing her a watch and then taking her gun.

TDCJ spokesperson Michelle Lyons corrected the incorrect report in an interview the same day, saying that a male corrections officer was the one handed the watch.

But the report claims Martin and Falk did take Canfield’s rifle, but only after struggling first with the male corrections officer and taking his.

The report says the two inmates continued over the fence separating the field from the service center and struggled with Canfield, then gaining control of her rifle.

The two then fled in a vehicle from the service center — whose keys were left in the ignition — then running down Canfield, who was still on horseback.

Canfield died as a result of her injuries.

According to Janie Farris, justice of the peace for Precinct 1, said that verbal, preliminary autopsy results had come in but that she would not release those, citing a request from senior investigators to withhold the information until an investigation into the incident could be completed.

Walker County Sheriff Clint McRae said that Texas Rangers had asked preliminary results not be released until a documented version of the results could be obtained.

Farris said that a compelte autopsy won’t be complete for “several weeks,” saying it could take up to eight weeks for the final results to return.

Canfield’s body was taken to Dallas for the autopsy.

There was no mention in the TDCJ report of a police chase or the hostage taken during the three-hour long manhunt, only to say Falk was apprehended “shortly afterward” and Martin “a few hours later.”

The report confirms that the canine team from the Wynne Unit was deployed in search of Martin.

Martin was found shirtless, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts in an attempt to throw off search dogs from his scent, Lyons told the Associated Press.

The horse Canfield was riding was struck and initially believed to only have cuts and bruises. On closer inspection, a wound thought to have been a cut from skidding along the gravel driveway turned out to be a gunshot wound, Lyons said, and the horse was euthanized late Sept. 24.

Falk had served 21 years of a life sentence after being convicted of murder for the death of a lawyer in Matagorda county.

Martin had served 10 years of a 50-year sentence after being charged in Collin County with two counts of attempted murder after a domestic dispute turned into a high-speed chase in which Martin began to fire on Department of Public Safety troopers and sheriff’s deputies.

Martin tried to commit suicide last Wednesday in his maximum security cell at the Estelle Unit, hanging himself with his boxer shorts from a light fixture in his cell. He was found and taken to Huntsville Memorial Hospital where he was released with no major injuries.

The Texas Rangers are heading up the investigation. Many charges — including capital murder — are expected against both Martin and Falk.

The two were assigned to outside work on what Lyons called the “hoe” squad, or literally a group of inmates using hoes to weed out farm areas.