David Martin sentenced to death for '12 slaying

WARREN — David Martin was sentenced to the death penalty this morning in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Andrew Logan affirmed the recommendation made by a jury last week. The same jury found Martin guilty of aggravated murder and other crimes two weeks ago for killing Jeremy Cole and attempting to kill Melissa Putnam in September 2012.

Martin has spent nearly his whole life locked up jails or prisons since age 16.

Martin did not speak before the sentence was handed down, though Chris Becker, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, asked Martin heatedly if he had "something to say" because of hand gestures and comments Martin apparently cast in Becker's direction earlier in the hearing.

According to records from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, he has been out of prison or jail less than a year since getting arrested for his first adult felony in July 2001, when he was 16.

He was sentenced in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to six years in prison for aggravated robbery with a gun in that incident. He was released from prison Dec. 22, 2006, but was arrested March 5, 2007, in Cleveland on several charges.

He pleaded guilty June 20, 2007, to attempted robbery, being a felon in possession of a firearm and drug possession in Cuyahoga County. He also commited a felonious assault in Lorain County. All four charges resulted five more years in prison.

He was released from prison the second time March 20, 2012, and indicated he was going to live on Oak Street Southwest in Warren.

But on Sept. 27, 2012, he killed Jeremy Cole, 21, of Warren, and attempted to kill Melissa Putnam, then 27, at Putnam’s home, which was also on Oak Street.