Kevin L. Martin pleaded guilty last year in Baltimore County court to second-degree murder, telling police, and not denying in court, that he stomped on his neighbor?s head in a 10-minute fight that led to the man?s death.
Martin was asked standard questions for a guilty plea to ensure he understood what rights he was giving up and that he was doing so freely and voluntarily. Then he was sentenced to the maximum 30 years in prison.
Martin came back to court Wednesday and, in what attorneys called a highly unusual move, tried to withdraw the guilty plea, saying he thought he was going to receive a shorter sentence. Judge John Turnbull denied the motion.
As part of the original plea agreement, Martin agreed to testify against Sara Glover, another defendant in the case. Glover asked Martin in February 2004 to beat up Salisbury, an ex-boyfriend she?d met on the Internet, after an argument, according to court records.
Salisbury?s sister found him lying on his living room floor in his apartment, convulsing, with severe head injuries, according to court records. Two nieces, ages 2 and 4, were crying in a back bedroom, according to court records.
Glover pleaded guilty to assault, and Martin was never called to testify against her. But he?d agreed to do it, and defense attorney Margaret Mead said she thought prosecutors agreed to ask for his sentence to fall within the 12-to-20-year guidelines.
“It is just my belief that this young man didn?t get the benefit of pleading guilty. ? I think he wishes he had gone to trial,” Mead said.
But by dropping the first-degree murder charge, the state already had done its part, prosecutor Stephen Roscher said.
Pulling the family back for another hearing ishard, he said.
“It?s like reopening a wound,” he said. “That?s the difficulty of it.”
