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Judge: Martin to get death penalty and 61 years in prison
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David Martin was sentenced to the death penalty and 61 years in prison in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
David Martin was sentenced to the death penalty and 61 years in prison Wednesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Judge Andrew Logan on Wednesday affirmed the death-penalty 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, 21, and attempting to kill Melissa Putnam in September 2012.
The 61 years in prison were imposed for attempted aggravated murder, two counts each of aggravated robbery and kidnapping, as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm, receiving stolen property and tampering with evidence.
Martin, 30, of Cleveland, has spent nearly his entire adult life locked up in jails or prisons. According to records from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, Martin has been out of prison less than a year since getting arrested for his first adult felony in July 2001, when he was 16.
Martin did not speak before the sentence was handed down, though Chris Becker, assistant 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.
Martin declined to say anything back to Becker or to give a statement to the court. His attorneys said Martin’s unsworn statement and apology for the crimes at the end of the trial would suffice.
“The death penalty is the ultimate penalty for the ultimate crime, and he deserves it,” Becker said after the sentencing.
Amy Biles of Warren, sister of Jeremy Cole, said she believes Martin “got what he deserves,” though she forgives Martin because her religious beliefs require that.
“I want to rest in heaven with my brother. I don’t want to be down there with him,” she said of going to Hell with Martin.
Deborah Croff of Warren, who said she is a first cousin of Martin’s, said she felt Martin didn’t get a fair trial “because he couldn’t afford an attorney.” Martin was represented by the Ohio Public Defender’s Office.
Martin was sentenced in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to six years in prison for aggravated robbery with a gun the first time he went to prison in 2001. 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 committed 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 Cole of Warren and attempted to kill Melissa Putnam, then 27, at Putnam’s home, which was also on Oak Street.
He was arrested at a house in Tallmadge on Oct. 12, and has remained in the jails in Trumbull and Mahoning counties since then.
With Martin’s sentence, there are now eight people on death row from Trumbull County, the first one since 2003, when Donna Roberts was sentenced to death for participating in the murder of her ex-husband, Robert Fingerhut, at the home in Howland she and Fingerhut shared.
Putnam said the only reason she knows for why Martin killed Cole was what Martin told her — that he had been offered $5,000 to kill Cole for something he had done.
But Putnam said she told Martin, “Bro, you got the wrong guy.”
Martin has not been charged yet for his role in a hostage taking incident in the Trumbull County jail in which he and two other inmates are accused of taking a corrections officer hostage for five hours using a plastic knife. The incident, in April 2014, ended peacefully.