Former county transit worker convicted of Miami-Dade rape 17 years later
A man accused of kidnapping and raping an 18-year-old woman — also facing the death penalty in a separate case involving the sexual assault and murder of a 13-year-old girl — was found guilty years after the crime.
Jurors convicted Gregory Lamart Martin, 56, of attempted felony murder, sexual battery and kidnapping charges stemming from the July 17, 2009, rape. The jury deliberated for an hour-and-half on Friday night.
Martin, a former county transit worker, beat, strangled and raped the woman after offering her a ride, prosecutor say. He then dumped the bruised woman in a grassy area behind an apartment complex in North Miami-Dade.
DNA linked Martin to the rape — and to the murder of Cynteria Phillips, a chronic runaway who had shuffled in and out of foster homes. Investigators obtained Martin’s DNA after he was arrested in December 2009 for allegedly trying to kill his ex-girlfriend. He was found not guilty of kidnapping his ex but was convicted of domestic battery by strangulation.
Martin’s conviction for the rape is a win for prosecutors, who likely intend to introduce the judgment in the death penalty case. Cynteria’s killing — and the girl’s history of abuse — changed how child welfare workers track runaway children.
Cynteria’s naked body was found in August 2000 on a grassy swale next to Miami Edison High School. Martin told detectives he had never met the girl or had sex with her, according to his arrest warrant.
A violent rape
During the trial, the rape victim tearfully recounted how she was waiting on a bus stop near Northwest 196th Street and 27th Avenue when a stranger in a wine red vehicle pulled up and offered her a ride. She accepted the ride — and ended up with a lifetime of trauma.
The woman said she was beaten and choked for hours. She said she told the man she was pregnant in the hopes he would stop battering her. Prosecutors showed jurors photos of the victim’s injuries, which include visible bruises, scratches and marks on her face.
Martin, prosecutors say, raped the woman a second time and “tried to choke the life out of her” before dumping her behind an apartment complex at Northwest 79th Street and Sixth Avenue.
But when Martin took the stand and testified in his defense, he said he picked up the woman and paid her for sex. He maintained a calm demeanor as he answered attorneys’ questions.
In closing arguments, prosecutor Kioceaia Stenson pointed out how DNA found inside the victim matched Martin. Stenson also told the jury the rapes occurred in locations Martin knew well: The woman was raped at the apartment complex where Martin’s brother lived and was left behind a building on a secluded one-way street.
The victim, who identified different men as her attacker several times, was not in a “clear emotional state” when she discussed the sexual assault with investigators and medical personnel, the prosecutor said.
“But what she has been consistent about: ‘I was raped. I was raped. I was raped,’” Stenson said.
The case, attorney Lane Abraham told jurors, was “full of head-scratchers.” As he spoke, he poked holes in the victim’s account, highlighting a slew of inconsistencies:
The woman provided varying descriptions of her attacker, providing different height, weight, build and accents, the attorney said. She identified different men in photo line-ups, although all the men she selected had hair on their head.
Martin, Abraham said, is bald and didn’t have hair back in 2009.
“This might be the first time he’s happy he doesn’t have hair,” Abraham said, putting his hands on Martin’s head.
Abraham also said there was no connection between Martin and the wine red vehicle the victim identified to investigators. Police, he said, did not thoroughly investigate the car, despite it being impounded since 2009. A DNA swab completed this year did not yield any results.
Addressing the jury a final time, Stenson focused on how strange it was that Martin remembered specific details — including the brown pants and silver jacket — the woman wore on the night of the incident. Martin had testified that he had seen more than 400 sex workers in his lifetime.
“They were the details of a rape,” Stenson said.
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez will sentence Martin on June 25.
