Jury sentences farmhand to death in girl's murder

May 10, 2008 06:27 am

— WAYNESBURG (AP) _ A farmhand was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl whose body was found buried on a horse farm.
The Greene County jury deliberated for about an hour Friday before deciding that Jeffrey Martin, 51, of New Geneva, should be put to death. Jurors on Thursday convicted Martin of first-degree murder and other crimes in the death of Gabrielle Bechen on June 13, 2006.
A cousin speaking for Bechen's family said justice had been served, but the girl's father, Chris Bechen, said the sentence brought him no closure.
Martin's daughter, who was present when the verdict was read, said she agreed with the sentence and called her father "a monster."
"He was never a father to me," said Jennifer Martin, 24, of South Greensburg.
Jeffrey Martin showed no emotion when the sentence was announced and said nothing as he was led from the courtroom.
Bechen disappeared while riding her all-terrain vehicle at a Greensboro horse farm where Martin worked. Her body was found buried on the farm five days later.
Martin denied killing Bechen, testifying that a man came to the farm with an ATV and a body in a pickup truck and offered him $100 to help bury the ATV.