South Carolina – A 20-year-old guy from Ohio who confessed to killing his ex-girlfriend while on a trip to South Carolina is now trying to get part of that conviction overturned, saying that the crime didn’t match the legal definition of murder.
Blake Linkous, who in March 2025 pled guilty to one count of murder, has asked the court for post-conviction relief. He wants the charge to be changed to manslaughter and his 45-year jail term to be shortened.
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Linkous says in court papers filed this week that he accepts responsibility for the murder of 18-year-old Natalie Martin, but he disagrees that the crime was premeditated or intentional.
Linkous says in the document that he first planned to take the case to court and fight for a lower charge. He says he changed his mind on the day the trial was supposed to start and decided to plead guilty because he was upset and concerned for Martin’s family.
Linkous wrote in a handwritten letter that he sent with his filing that going through with a trial would have made the victim’s loved ones’ anguish last longer. He admitted to wrongdoing , but he said that the legal allegation did not accurately describe what he done.
“I was going to trial, backed out on the day of and plead guilty,” Linkous wrote in the letter, according to WMBF. “I felt too bad going about this case any longer, putting the victim’s family through that. I’m guilty of the situation, not the charge.”
The murder happened in June 2023, during what was supposed to be a fun graduation trip to Myrtle Beach. Court filings show that Martin and Linkous broke up about two weeks before the vacation. Even though they broke up, they both went on a trip with a group of students and went to an event at the House of Blues on June 6.
Prosecutors said things became worse that night when Martin texted another boy who lived near Myrtle Beach. After the event, Martin, Linkous, and another person went back to a condo on Maison Drive. As other members of the group began heading back, Linkous reportedly told them he did not want to live without Martin and claimed he had tried to take his own life.
Authorities said that when the remainder of the group got back to the condo, they found Martin lying on the bedroom floor unresponsive. They called for emergency services, but she was declared dead at the scene. Later, investigators found out that she had been strangled.
Linkous was taken into custody and later confessed to killing Martin. Prosecutors pursued a murder charge, citing the circumstances surrounding the killing. Linkous didn’t have to go to trial because he pleaded guilty, but he did get a long prison sentence.
Linkous is currently in prison. He says that post-conviction relief is his only way to dispute the charge itself. He noted in his filing that he wishes to show that he has grown as a person and is responsible while also looking for what he thinks is a more accurate legal outcome.
“This is my first and only option to try the case,” Linkous said. “I’m trying this case to show I’m a better man than what I’m proclaimed to be as.”
The court has not yet made a decision on the request. If the motion is granted, it could result in a new sentencing hearing or a change to the conviction. Linkous remains in prison while the legal procedure moves forward.
