Confessed killer continues testimony in homicide trial
WASHINGTON – Under cross-examination Monday confessed murderer Alexander Martos repeatedly stated that the letters he wrote and sent to Debrah Levandosky were all part of a scam to clear himself and codefendant Gregory Modery. Modery, 32, of McMurray is currently on trial for homicide as Martos’ accomplice in the Dec. 12, 1999, robbery, kidnapping and shooting death of Ohio medical consultant Ira Swearingen. Swearingen was on his way to Uniontown when he disappeared. Modery is being represented by defense attorney Fred Rabner.
In an unusual move, Martos’ attorney, Dennis Paluso, was also called upon to testify Monday.
In a letter dated Jan. 22, 2002, Martos wrote that he had been at the district attorney’s office the previous Sunday to negotiate his plea agreement. Paluso said the first time he met with District Attorney John Pettit was on Jan. 24 so that it was impossible for his client to have met with Pettit on Sunday, Jan. 20.
Martos has stated that the letters were written in batches and backdated to make it look as if they had been written prior to his Feb. 1 plea to indicate that he had been pressured into pleading and to testifying against Modery.
In one letter, Martos stated he was high on marijuana and oxycontin when he entered his plea. Martos Monday denied having been on any drugs other than his prescription medications for high blood pressure and a hiatal hernia.
Martos said it was those drugs that caused him to test positive for marijuana use on Feb. 12, 2002, at the Washington County Jail. He was placed in additional confinement for 30 to 60 days for the alleged drug use, but was released after 10 days, Martos said, after his attorney checked to see if his prescription drugs were considered in the testing process.
Martos also testified under cross-examination that he and another co-defendant, John Shaker, had committed a series of crimes while they were sharing a hotel room in Las Vegas from late September 1999 until Dec. 1, 1999.
Modery said they would rob corner drug dealers, scam casinos about money lost in slot machines and twice beat up men near adult bookstores.
Martos also said that he, Shaker and Modery planned a break-in by telephone that occurred at Mark Welsh’s house the day Martos and Shaker returned from Las Vegas. Martos said he would contact Modery weekly at a toll-free number at the Travel Zone in Finleyville owned by Levandosky.
Martos repeatedly denied that Shaker was the second man with him when he shot Swearingen, saying instead that it was Modery. When told that the defense contends he is lying by placing Modery at the scene, Martos denied that he was simply parroting what the prosecution wants him to say.
“I can only tell you what happened that night,” Martos said. “I was told to tell the truth and that’s what I’m doing. I always have told the truth. You don’t have to believe nothing. I am only telling you how I recall it.”
Rabner painted a contrasting picture of Martos and Modery, showing Martos to be a drifter, drug addict and violent criminal while Modery was a family man with no criminal history. Martos said that in the time since he became reacquainted with Modery in 1994, Modery has been unemployed most of the time.
“He was employed for about four or five weeks with Mark Welsh. That’s the only employment I knew him doing,” Martos said. “He’d put his little girl on the bus in the morning and I’d see him a lot in the afternoon until he had to get his little girl off the bus.”
Martos said he would also spend four or five evenings a week with Modery. He has testified that it was not uncommon for he and Modery to beat and rob men near the adult bookstore along Interstate 70 at the Kammerer exit. A man who formerly worked as a clerk at the bookstore testified Monday about a man who came to the bookstore for help in late February of 1998. David Simms said he saw a man stumbling around outside the store.
“At first I though he was drunk, so I asked a couple of the people who were there to ask him to leave. When he turned around, we could tell he was hurt. He had blood all over him and his face was all swollen,” Simms said.
Simms said an ambulance was called for the man who had red marks all over his head and cuts on his nose and lips. Simms said he later gave a statement to police saying that Alexander Martos was a possible suspect, since he had been seen in the bookstore parking lot two days before the incident in a truck identical to the one the victim said his attacker was driving.
As many as five victims of beatings and robberies near the adult bookstore at the Kammerer exit along I-70 may testify today.