Sep 22, 2008 9:15 pm US/Eastern
Daughter Of Man Convicted In Murder Speaks Out
WAYNESBURG (KDKA) ―
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A jury in Greene County found Jeffrey Martin, 51, of first-degree murder charges plus rape in the 2006 death of 12-year-old Gabrielle Bechen.
KDKA
Last week, a farmhand was sentenced to the death penalty for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old Greene County girl.
Today, the daughter of farmhand Jeffery Martin, Jennifer Martin, reacted to own her father's conviction with relief.
"When they made it final, I think I got a little bit of closure in that he'll never get out," said Martin. "He can't hurt anybody else."
Jeffery Martin, 51, was convicted by a jury in May for the June 2006 killing of Gabrielle Bechen on a horse farm in Greene County.
Bechen disappeared while riding her all-terrain vehicle at a Greensboro horse farm where Martin worked. Her body was found five days later buried on the farm.
But Martin's sentencing hearing last week was not first time his daughter says she was asked to take stand.
She says she was asked to detail allegation of his abuse when she was just 6-years-old. But she added that she couldn't testify then because he stared her down and frightened her. But this time she overcame that fear.
"I may not have been able to get on that stand when I was six, but I was going to do something this time, and I did."
Martin has been assigned to SCI Pittsburgh, the jail formally known as Western Penitentiary, while the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reviews his death sentence.
Stay with KDKA for the latest details.
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