By Nate Rawlings
The man convicted of not intervening while his girlfriend beat a 3-year-old to death with a pool cue was sentenced in Brooklyn Supreme Court today to 18 years to life in prison.
Lemar Martin, a former city housing guard, who was convicted of second-degree murder on Jan. 27, was sentenced by Justice Gustin Reichbach, who called the killing “a hurricane of pain and brutality.”
“By nature, I’m not a vengeful person,” Assistant District Attorney Cary Fischer said in his pre-sentencing argument, “but when I saw what Mr. Martin forced me to look at in the morgue at Kings County Hospital, photos taken of this little angel’s body, how battered and bruised he was, I started to think, ‘is 25 years enough?’”
The defense attorney, William Martin, argued that Lemar Martin deserved a lenient sentence because he did not commit the actual murder.
“They can’t point to anything to show that he was aware,” William Martin said. “My client’s DNA wasn’t on the pool cue. He didn’t do it.”
According to trial testimony, Martin and his girlfriend, Nymeen Cheatham, lived with her godson Kyle Smith. During the trial, prosecutors argued that Lemar Martin made the 28-pound boy do pushups and calisthenics when he misbehaved.
On June 6, 2008, Cheatham was punishing Smith when she beat him to death with a pool cue. Prosecutors detailed the killing, which medical experts say unfolded over several hours, and Fischer argued that Lemar Martin did nothing to stop the attack. Throughout the trial, Lemar Martin maintained that he had slept through the attack, an argument he made one more time as he asked Judge Reichbach for leniency.
“The only crime I’m guilty of is sleeping too hard,” Martin said, reading a statement before the court. “I loved Kyle. I am innocent of the charges I’ve been convicted of, and I will continue to fight for my innocence.”
Cheatham admitted to the beating and pleaded guilty to manslaughter; she is currently serving 20 years to life in prison. Much of William Martin’s arguments centered on the fact that, because of her plea deal, Cheatham never testified in court and was not available for cross-examination.
In his pre-sentencing remarks, Justice Reichbach acknowledged that Lemar Martin had no prior arrests; however, he said Martin’s inaction during a beating that was “so depraved, so devoid of human concern” was enough to sentence him to 18 years in prison.
Nearly two-dozen members of the St. Paul Community Baptist Church, in East New York, attended the sentencing to support Lemar Martin. Several members said Martin was active in the church and expressed disbelief that he had committed any crime.
“My boy is not guilty of this particular crime,” said John Young, Martin’s stepfather. “The welfare of any child should be in mind at all times, and he exhibited that the whole time.”
Martin’s brother, Jerjuan Easton, maintained his brother’s innocence and vowed that the family would seek an appeal. “An innocent man went to jail today because of malicious acts of the prosecution,” Easton said. “We will continue this fight.”
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