Sep 8, 2006 4 min read

By Steve Barrett For the Herald-Standard

WAYNESBURG – Greene County Public Defender Harry Cancelmi filed several pre-trial motions Tuesday claiming that a Fayette County man arrested on charges that he killed and sexually assaulted a 12-year Dunkard Township girl in June, was abused, threatened and coerced by officials during a police investigation.

The motions were filed on behalf of Jeffrey Robert Martin, 49, of New Geneva, who 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.

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 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; all of the charges were held for court during his preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Lee Watson on June 21, Watson ordered the charges held for court.

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 Allegheny County forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht revealed that the child had been sexually assaulted around the time of her death.

Martin’s preliminary hearing for the new charges has been scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Sept. 20 at the Greene County Courthouse. A representative from Watson’s office said the hearing would be moved from Watson’s courtroom because of space constraints.

In the pre-trial motions, Cancelmi, who is representing Martin, requested a suppression of evidence, claiming that Martin made statements to police while he was threatened and abused by authorities.

The motion states that after he was brought in for questioning on June 13 Martin spent “several hours” at the state police barracks in Waynesburg after “a full day of farmhand work,” and that he asked several times to leave but was not allowed by authorities. Martin also was advised that he did not need an attorney and that police just had “a few questions” to ask him, the motion states.

Martin was permitted to leave the barracks before midnight on June 13 but only after he was subjected to “verbal threats, abuse and coercion,” the complaint states. He also was asked to provide a written statement and was given a polygraph test by the FBI.

The motion states that Martin “appears to have been arrested on June 17 by state police without issuance of a warrant.”

Further into the motion, Cancelmi alleges that Martin was subjected to “another round of questioning while locked in a state police vehicle with the windows up, no air conditioning and no food or water for the following four to five hours.”

The motion also claims that authorities physically assaulted Martin, in addition to psychological and verbal abuse.

“Thereafter, 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, First Assistant District Attorney Linda 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.

“The defendant asserts that any fair and impartial trial in this matter cannot be had in Greene County or possibly… in western Pennsylvania,” according to Cancelmi. “(This is because) of the extreme amount of publicity and (because) the circumstances of the incident in this case have tainted any potential jury panel.”

In another motion, Cancelmi requests that the court allow the retention of a mental health expert to evaluate Martin.

“The defendant sustained serious physical injury as a child to his brain and nervous system … he has had recurrent mental and physical health problems from that time to his adulthood,” the complaint states.

As of press time, the clerk of courts office had not scheduled a hearing date for these pre-trial motions.