JEFFREY ROBERT MARTIN | Sentenced To Death For The Sexual Assault And Murder Of Twelve Year Old Gabrielle Bechen | He used a backhoe to bury her body and the all-terrain vehicle she was riding after choking her to death | Autographed Letter, Signed

Jeffrey R. Martin. Autographed Letter, Signed. Handwritten, Commercial #10 (4.125 × 9.5 envelope). Somerset, PA. July 24, 2024. Content unknown. SEALED.

Jeffrey Robert Martin from Fayette County was convicted for the murder of 12-year-old Gabrielle Miranda Bechen in June 2006. Martin was found guilty in May 2008 on charges including first-degree murder, rape, aggravated indecent assault, and other counts. He was sentenced to death by a Greene County jury the day after his conviction. Martin has been appealing his conviction. He also claims ineffective counsel and suggests that new DNA evidence techniques could prove his innocence. He also argues that the death penalty is unconstitutional. Gabrielle Miranda Bechen disappeared on June 13, 2006, after leaving her home on an all-terrain vehicle to visit a nearby horse farm where Martin worked. Her body was found buried on the farm five days later. As of the latest information, Martin is on death row. He was recently in court for a hearing on his appeal. The outcome of this hearing and whether he will receive a new trial or sentence have not been disclosed yet.

The motive behind the murder was revealed during Martin’s trial. In response to her threat, he choked her and subsequently buried her body and the all-terrain vehicle she was riding. Martin later recanted this confession and blamed another man for the killing.

This occurred after a pair of volunteer searchers found the all-terrain vehicle Gabrielle rode from her home to the nearby farm where Martin worked. A recorded confession made by Martin was played in court. In this confession, he stated that he strangled Gabrielle after she threatened to tell her parents he had molested her. Despite his initial confession, Martin told a different story when he testified. He claimed a man ran out of gasoline in front of the farm and offered him $100 to help dispose of an ATV. Martin testified that he saw a body inside the truck after he and the man finished burying the ATV and that the man later buried the girl using a backhoe from the farm. Martin was found guilty of first-degree murder, 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.
Martin claimed that the police abused and tortured him to make him confess to the murder. In his appeals, Martin argued that he had ineffective counsel during his trial, the penalty phase, and subsequent appeals. The defense also claims that new DNA evidence techniques could prove Martin’s innocence. Martin’s defense argued that the death penalty is unconstitutional according to both federal and state laws. During the sentencing phase of the trial, Martin’s siblings described a dysfunctional upbringing with alcoholic and abusive parents. They also mentioned that Martin was a special education student who quit school in the 10th grade.

During the trial, the family of Gabrielle Miranda Bechen was present and reacted with visible emotion to the proceedings. When the taped confession of Martin was played in court, Gabrielle’s parents, Blanche and Christopher Bechen, were reported to have wiped tears from their eyes while listening to Martin confess to the crime. The tape included Martin’s admission of choking Gabrielle, his description of how he buried her body, and the all-terrain vehicle she was riding at the time of the incident.

VIDEO: Gabrielle Bechen Tribute- Homesick | https://youtu.be/GqY6ku1W9zQ

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