Martin sentence rescheduled
Sentencing for a Fayette County man convicted of murdering and raping a 12-year-old Greene County girl in June 2006 has been rescheduled to 10 a.m. Aug. 21. In May, a Greene County jury found Jeffrey Robert Martin, 50, of New Geneva guilty in the strangulation death and rape of Gabrielle Bechen of Dunkard Township and sentenced him to death.
The sentencing was scheduled for Thursday.
At the Aug. 21 sentencing hearing before Greene County President Judge H. Terry Grimes, Martin will be formally sentenced on the first-degree murder conviction and sexual assault charges.
A hearing to determine if Martin, a Greene County native, is a sexually violent predator under Megan’s Law could be held before the sentencing.
A pre-sentence investigation and Megan’s Law evaluation of Martin have been completed.
County prosecutors argued that Martin raped the girl and then killed her, buried her body and other evidence on a farm where he worked to conceal the crime.
Bechen’s June 13, 2006, disappearance triggered an extensive search involving state police, FBI agents and hundreds of volunteers.
Martin confessed to killing the girl and led police to where he buried the body on June 17 after a pair of the volunteer searchers found the all-terrain vehicle Bechen rode from her home to the nearby farm on Mount Joy Road where Martin worked.
The body, ATV and other evidence were found buried at different sites on the farm.
A recorded confession he made to police was played in court, but Martin told a different story when he testified.
In the confession, Martin said he strangled the girl after she drove her ATV to the farm and told him she was going to tell her parents he molested her.
On the witness stand, he said a man ran out of gasoline in front of the farm and offered him $100 to help him dispose of an ATV he had in the bed of his truck.
Martin testified that he saw a body inside the truck after he and the man finished burying the ATV.
He said he went back to work, but the man drove a backhoe and took lime from the farm, buried the girl and then showed him the gravesite.
Martin also claimed police abused and tortured him to make him confess.
During the sentencing phase of the trial, a brother and sister of Martin’s described a dysfunctional upbringing with alcoholic and abusive parents. They also said Martin was a special education student who quit school in 10th grade.
In addition to first-degree murder, Martin was found guilty of rape of a child, aggravated assault, aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, abuse of a corpse and four counts of tampering with evidence.