A Gillette man who shot his half-sister in the head, then turned to his mother and told her to “give me a hug, because I am going to jail” will spend the next 25-45 years in prison.
Vincent Hackett, 28, faced up to life in prison at his Thursday sentencing in Campbell County District Court, where his mother was among a laundry list of relatives asking for leniency for Hackett.
Despite shooting his 33-year-old half-sister Haleigh Martinez point-blank as she burst into their mother’s house Jan. 20, 2025, the mother told Judge Matthew Castano in a letter that Martinez was a source of “chaos” in their lives.
“The truth is, your honor, his younger years were not easy ones,” Jennifer Hackett wrote. “Our household experienced a lot of chaos because of his sister Haleigh’s struggles, her probation issues, and the storms that came with her choices.”
She pleaded with the judge not to excuse what her son did, but to give him some opportunity “to rebuild himself and move forward with a better future.”
‘Usually Confrontational’
The mother was there during the incident after making plans to help Martinez clean up her home earlier that day, according to an evidentiary affidavit by Gillette Police Department Detective Dan Stroup.
They drank together and Martinez became drunk, the document says. At about 3:15 p.m., the mother invited Martinez back to the mother’s home, Stroup wrote.
One of them (the affidavit is unclear which) invited another woman who is a mutual friend to the home as well. The friend had Martinez’s children from a sleepover from the prior evening, the affidavit says.
Vincent Hackett also was at the mother’s home.
Martinez’s mother said that “the relationship between Vincent and Haleigh was usually confrontational as Haleigh is a known drug user,” Stroup related from the affidavit. “Vincent does not approve of her lifestyle or how she raises her children.”
The three family members drank alcohol, tended to the children and watched TV that night, the document says.
The affidavit says that at one point, Martinez overheard her female friend and her brother talking about her. She got upset and stormed out of the home with only stockings on her feet. The female friend picked Martinez up and took her to Martinez’s home.
A little later, Martinez returned and argued with her brother. The mother broke up the argument and sent her son to a different part of the home.
The siblings argued loudly, and Hackett told Martinez to leave the home. He escorted her to the front door, pushed her onto the porch and locked the deadbolt, says the document.
“This enraged Haleigh, who began beating on the door, demanding entry,” Stroup wrote. “Vincent was at the door yelling back at Haleigh. The door suddenly swung open, with Haleigh in the doorway.”
Hackett raised a pistol and fired one round into his sister’s face, and she fell, the document says.
The mother gathered the children and retreated to the back of the home, and at least two more shots sounded, Stroup wrote. That was when Hackett went to hug his mother one last time.
Turns Physical
After the shooting, Vincent Hackett called 911 to report it, according to the affidavit.
During his trial, he told the jury that he considered calling 911 earlier that evening as he and his half-sister continued to argue, according to the Gillette News Record.
Instead, he retrieved a Glock .36 pistol from his room, then their argument escalated.
As he tried to get her to leave the house, Martinez “started swinging on me, shoving me,” Vincent Hackett told the jury, the News Record reported.
“I’ll f*** you up. We can both go to f***ing jail tonight,” he said she told him.
When Martinez tried to force her way back in, “we made eye contact, and she charged at me,” he said.
That’s when he shot her three times, according to the newspaper’s account.
Vincent Hackett pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder charge, but was found guilty by a jury in December.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
