Judge: Road-Rage Killer a 'Shooting Waiting to Happen'

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Martin Edward Zale will spend up to 50 years in prison for the Sept. 2 road-rage killing of an Osceola Township father of two, a Livingston County judge said Friday.

The 69-year-old Zale, of Marion Township, was convicted last month of second-degree murder in the death of Derek Flemming, who was shot during an argument on Grand River Avenue east of Howell.

Zale will serve at least 27 years of the sentence before he is eligible for parole, The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus reports.

Flemming’s window, Amy, said in her victim impact statement that she is “a broken woman with broken children.” She watched as her husband was shot and fell to the pavement during the deadly encounter, which occurred as they were going to pick up their children after the first day of school.

Also on this topic:

• Little Girl’s Heartbreaking Discovery after Her Daddy is Killed in Road Rage
• Driver Shoots Another in Apparent Road Rage
• Attorney Arguing Self-Defense in Deadly Road Rage: ‘Whole Story Has Not Been Heard’
• Report: Defendant, Victim Both Had History of Road Rage
• ‘Don’t Go,’ Amy Flemming Recalls Pleading After Deadly Road Rage Shooting
• Judge: Prior Road Rage Evidence OK at Murder Trial
• Jury Reaches Verdict in Road-Rage Shooting Death

Livingston County Judge Miriam Cavanaugh called Zale “a shooting waiting to happen.”

“If it hadn’t been Mr. Flemming, it would have been someone else,” the judge said.

During his trial, Zale admitted he meant to shoot Flemming, but said it was an act of self-defense after claiming Flemming hit him in the face – an assertion that was not corroborated by witnesses.

Zale declined to speak during the sentencing hearing.