Baseball player convicted of triple murder with baseball bat

Brandon Martin, a former minor league baseball player, used his own engraved bat to kill two relatives and a bystander at his home in 2015 in California. He has just been convicted of his crimes.

Martin, aged 27, has been found guilty of murder in the first degree in the triple homicide. Jurors will soon have the unenviable task of having to decide between a life sentence or the death penalty for Martin.

According to the New York Post, Barry Swanson, aged 62 and disabled, was in the home at the time to install an alarm system, which the family had paid for in part due to being afraid of the junior Martin.

Michael Martin, 64 was also there with his brother in law, Ricky Anderson. The three of them fell victim to Martin's bat after he flew into a rage. Martin the elder and Swanson were found dead at the scene; Anderson was taken to hospital, but died of his injuries two days later.

Martin's cousin walked in on the horrific scene shortly after Martin had fled in Swanson's vehicle. He was located the next day by police in Corona CA. What followed was a spectacular and chaotic chase to apprehend Martin, who eventually abandoned the truck and continued to run away on foot.

Before the chase was over, Martin would break into a home, jump from a window and get violent with a police dog, according to the prosecutor's office.

This was not the first violent incident involving Martin. Problems apparently date back to the year 2011, when Martin put a headlock on his mother and punched his father in the face. Also, just before the murders, Martin choked his mother and brandished a pair of scissors at her. He went to a mental health facility for two days, but was then released into his family's custody.