Defendant in Cynteria Phillips murder trial gets life for rape in other case
A man accused of kidnapping and raping an 18-year-old woman — and facing the death penalty if convicted in a separate case involving the sexual assault and murder of a 13-year-old girl — will spend the rest of his life in a Florida prison.
Dressed in orange jail attire, Gregory Lamart Martin, 56, sat quietly and shook his head after Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez on Friday afternoon sentenced him to life in prison followed by 60 years.
In May, a jury convicted Martin of attempted felony murder, sexual battery and kidnapping charges stemming from a July 17, 2009, rape. The judge also sentenced Martin to 60 years and 15 years in prison, which he will serve at the same time as the life sentence.
Martin was fingerprinted in the courtroom as Tinkler Mendez asked the attorneys about the status of Martin’s death-penalty case. If convicted, Martin is facing execution in the 2000 rape and murder of Cynteria Phillips, a 13-year-old runaway. He has pleaded not guilty.
The judge said she is aiming for Martin’s death-penalty trial to begin in February or March, adding that it is the oldest open case in the courthouse. Martin’s conviction and sentence for the sexual assault is a win for prosecutors, who likely intend to introduce the judgment in the death-penalty case.
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Martin beat, strangled and raped the woman after offering her a ride from a bus stop near Northwest 196th Street and 27th Avenue, prosecutors say. During the trial, the victim tearfully recounted how accepting the ride of a stranger left her with a lifetime of trauma.
She testified that she was beaten, and Martin “tried to choke the life out of her” before dumping her behind an apartment complex at Northwest 79th Street and Sixth Avenue.
Martin took the stand during the trial, saying he picked up the woman and paid her for sex.
On Friday, prosecutor Scott Warfman detailed the brutality of the crime, urging the judge to hand down several life sentences. Martin, Warfman said, had a “callous indifference” to the victim, who was pregnant at the time of the sexual assault.
Attorney Lane Abraham argued that Martin should instead be sentenced to about 26 years, the lower end of his sentencing guidelines. He pointed out that the rape case ended in a mistrial two times before Martin was convicted.
Abraham also told the judge he advised Martin not to address the court because the state “is seeking to kill him” in the death-penalty case. Martin declined to make a statement before his sentence was announced.
‘You are sick’
The victim addressed Martin in court, saying the ordeal has haunted her. Through the years, she said she has thought about Martin’s other possible victims. Martin, who sat handcuffed in the jury box, did not react as the woman spoke.
“I don’t really understand why you did what you did,” the victim said. “And I don’t understand or know what make you have a heart so dark.”
The victim told Martin to turn to God and try to change his heart.
“You are sick, but I’m not saying that to humiliate you and make you feel guilt,” the victim said. “… There’s going to be a point that’s going to eat you alive.”
DNA also linked Martin to the rape — and murder — of Cynteria, a chronic runaway who was 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.
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 Senior High School. Martin told detectives he had never met the girl or had sex with her, according to his arrest warrant.
