TYLER, Texas — A Whitehouse man sentenced to 16 years in prison for the 2017 death of a Tyler teen returned to court Friday because of an inaccurate court reporting.
Martin Wesley Reynolds Jr. was found guilty of murder last December for the shooting death of Andrew Carpenter in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, 2017.
On Friday, Reynolds, who has been serving out his sentence in a Huntsville prison unit and seeking an appeal of his conviction, was a part of a hearing to address a missing court transcript from a Dec. 3, 2021 pre-trial hearing.
The part-time court reporter who took notes in the hearing said there was no record of any hearings for cases that she was a part of on Dec. 3.
Because of the loss, Judge Austin Reeve Jackson of the 114th District Court said there were several inaccurate transcripts for various court proceedings.
Jackson said the court proceedings in the Reynolds' pre-trial hearing are on record through written and oral orders made in the courtroom last December.
He said the Dec. 3 pre-trial hearing was about Carpenter's juvenile records, and because of other documentation, the court hearing could be considered "insignificant."
He noted that he does not have authority over the 12th Court of Appeals regarding Reynolds' attempt to appeal his conviction.
Police documents said Reynolds and Carpenter argued on the phone in 2017, and Carpenter said if Reynolds showed up at a mutual friend’s residence on Deerwood Drive in Tyler, he would put a gun to Reynolds’ head.
Reynolds was driven from Whitehouse to confront Carpenter, and he got a pistol from another person, the arrest affidavit read. Witnesses said Carpenter fired shots toward the ground first, hitting Reynolds’ legs. Reynolds then shot back twice, causing Carpenter to fall back.