When Pfc. Alberto Martinez returned from heavy combat in Iraq in 2003, he reported tightness in his chest, memory loss and sleeplessness. He would not go to bed without his gun. He repeatedly checked his windows and doors to make sure they were locked.

The soldier in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division had classic symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, according to court records. But he did not get help for it.

(ENLARGE)

Pfc. Alberto Martinez, whose battalion saw heavy fighting in Baghdad in 2003, was back at Fort Benning less than a week when he killed a fellow soldier.

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Instead, a few days after returning to Fort Benning, Martinez and four other soldiers who had fought side by side during some of the most violent battles in Iraq, went out for a night of hard drinking in Columbus. They first hit Hooters, then drove to the Platinum Club, a strip club.

By the end of the night, one soldier, Spc. Richard R. Davis, 24, was a tattered corpse, stabbed more than 30 times by Martinez.

The Georgia Supreme Court today will hear the appeal of Martinez, 27, convicted in 2006 of Davis' murder and serving life in prison.

Martinez's jury was never told his post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may have explained his murderous act. His lawyer, David West of Marietta, argues Martinez deserves a new trial because his lawyers failed him by not adequately investigating an insanity defense.

Muscogee County prosecutors reject the notion that Martinez was delusional when he killed Davis on July 13, 2003. They argue there was bad blood between Martinez and Davis dating back to their tour in Iraq and that animosity, fueled by alcohol, triggered the slaying.

They note Roger Enfield, director of forensic services at West Central Georgia Regional Hospital, interviewed Martinez before the trial and concluded the soldier knew what he was doing when he killed Davis.

"I think there's a possibility that he had some degree of PTSD," Enfield testified. "The question is what role did it play."

Martinez's trial lawyers, called to testify on Martinez's motion for a new trial, rejected the insanity defense as well. Both attorneys said they did not believe the jury would have accepted it.

"Basically we felt like the jury would feel that he was admitting to the act, which was rather gruesome and also that it was very prolonged," attorney Thomas Flournoy III testified. "It wasn't just a ... sudden impulse."

PTSD is widespread

Davis' murder loosely inspired the movie, "In the Valley of Elah," starring Oscar nominee Tommy Lee Jones. When Davis, the son of a Vietnam vet, was killed in 2003, his case attracted international attention and raised questions about the lingering effects of the war on traumatized soldiers.

Today, Martinez's appeal is being argued amid recent disclosures that hundreds of thousands of troops are coming home battling PTSD and depression and are not receiving adequate care.

A recent study by RAND Corp., a California-based nonprofit research institution that specializes in national security, estimated that of the 1.7 million troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, 18.5 percent are returning home suffering from PTSD and depression.

"The single best predictor is prolonged exposure to combat trauma — seeing dead bodies, getting injured themselves or seeing someone they know get injured or killed," said Lisa Jaycox, an author of the study. "The more events like that they had, the more likely it is they have PTSD now."

The 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division, which helped lead the U.S. assault on Baghdad, saw some of the heaviest fighting in Iraq.

Martinez had been home in Fort Benning for less than a week when he and the four fellow soldiers went out for a night on the town. Davis got back just the day before.

According to testimony, the inebriated Davis insulted a dancer at the strip club and got the group tossed out. Outside in the parking lot, Pvt. Jacob Burgoyne and Pfc. Mario Navarrete lit into Davis and began hitting him. The men then got into Martinez's car and drove off.

Soon afterward, Burgoyne, Navarrete and Davis, all in the back seat, started up again. Martinez pulled the car off the road into a dark wooded area.

"Get out of the car," Martinez ordered Davis, according to testimony.

Martinez then walked over and stabbed Davis in his left side, probably piercing his lung.

Even as the others pleaded for him to stop, Martinez seized Davis' throat and began stabbing him again and again, twisting the blade as it entered the screaming soldier's body.

Davis finally cried out, "I'm dead. I'm dead."

Martinez continued, stabbing Davis in the neck, according to testimony.

The medical examiner estimated that Martinez stabbed Davis 33 times.

Throughout the slaughter, the other soldiers stood by.

"I dishonored him," Burgoyne, a Bradley gunner in Iraq, testified about Davis. "I left and walked away."

The soldiers then bought lighter fluid, returned to the scene and set Davis' body on fire. Martinez, Burgoyne and Navarrete came back a few days later to move the body farther from the roadside. Davis' remains were found four months later when a soldier told investigators that Burgoyne had confided in him about the murder.

'Killing machine'

West initially represented Martinez but withdrew and was replaced by local public defenders. But before he left, West had Atlanta psychologist Millie Astin, an expert on PTSD, interview Martinez.

Astin found that Martinez suffered from chronic PTSD and moderate depression. In her report, dated May 2004, Astin said an individual with PTSD can re-experience traumatic memories if aroused by certain triggers, such as shouting, loud noises, angry voices and physical conflict.

This can lead to "dissociative flashbacks," in which a person believes he needs to defend himself from danger, even when none exists.

During a hearing last year on the motion for new trial, Astin testified it was possible that Martinez dissociated on the night of the killing, triggered by the fighting by his colleagues.

"When someone dissociates, all they know is that they're in danger and they have to get themselves safe again," Astin testified. "And if he has been triggered by what's going on in the back seat, it's not unreasonable that he would pull over and attack Mr. Davis if he perceived him to be a threat."

Astin also testified that she thought Martinez knew what he was doing after the killing — that he was guilty of covering it up.

West, who has re-entered the case for the appeal, said he was astonished Martinez's trial lawyers did not interview Astin before the trial. He noted that a military physician determined Martinez may have had PTSD before he was discharged in 2003 and had recommended he receive counseling. West said if he wins the appeal, he will argue an insanity defense at retrial.

"The sounds of the fight were more than enough to make him snap," West said of Martinez. "And he was a killing machine. He did what he was trained to do: kill."