Motions filed
A Greene County judge is expected to rule next week on several motions filed by the attorneys representing the Fayette County man accused of killing a 12-year-old Greene County girl in June, including efforts to throw out evidence and move the trial out of the county. Greene County Public Defender Harry Cancelmi filed several pre-trial motions claiming Jeffrey Robert Martin, 49, of New Geneva, arrested on charges that he sexually assaulted and killed a 12-year Dunkard Township girl in June, was abused, threatened and coerced by officials during a police investigation.
The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning in Greene County Court.
Martin was arrested on June 17 on charges that he killed Gabrielle Miranda Bechen after her body was found in a shallow grave on a horse farm near her home on Presock Road.
Cancelmi, who is representing Martin along with Public Defender Ryan Armstrong, declined to comment on Wednesday. “I’ll let the motions speak for themselves,” he said.
First Assistant District Attorney Linda Chambers will handle the pre-trial hearing. District Attorney Marge Fox declined comment on the upcoming hearing.
In the pre-trial motions, which were filed in Greene County Clerk of Courts office, Cancelmi requested a suppression of evidence, claiming that Martin made statements to police while he was threatened and abused by authorities. The motion also claims that in addition to psychological and verbal abuse, authorities physically assaulted Martin.
“Therefore, in order to end this treatment, the defendant offered to lead the authorities to the victim’s body and the other items of physical evidence,” the motion states.
Cancelmi alleges that Martin was coerced “to the extent that his declarations and/or statements were not knowing, voluntary or intelligent.”
In another motion, Cancelmi is requesting that the court bar the prosecution from seeking the death penalty “as cruel and unusual punishment.” In July, Chambers filed a notice of aggravating circumstances against Martin, which allows prosecutors to pursue the death penalty in the case.
Cancelmi also motioned for the court to move Martin’s upcoming trial to another county or allow the selection of a jury panel from another county, because of the “extreme amount” of publicity dealing with the case.
In another motion, Cancelmi requests that the court allow the retention of a mental health expert to evaluate Martin.
Martin’s arrest came after a five-day search in which hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement authorities scoured the area looking for the girl, who was last seen riding her all-terrain vehicle early in the morning on June 13.
Martin was employed as a caretaker on the farm where Bechen’s body was found.
He was charged with homicide, aggravated assault and four counts of tampering with evidence.
Pennsylvania State Police at Waynesburg filed additional charges on Aug. 25 of rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, sexual assault and abuse of a corpse; the additional charges were filed after an autopsy conducted June 19 by forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht revealed that the child had been sexually assaulted around the time of her death.