By Associated Press
Phenix City AL – A Russell County judge upheld a jury's recommendation and sentenced a Phenix City man to die by lethal injection for a murder and kidnapping spree.
Brent Martin, 34, said nothing as Circuit Judge George Greene sentenced Martin for the Sept. 8, 2005, murders of Johnnie Randolph III, 21, and Darryl Maurice Carrillo, 18, whose bodies were found in Phenix City.
They had been kidnapped along with Alicia Dixon, her daughter Amari Dixon, and Nakayla Randolph, the daughter of Martin's estranged wife, LaKeisha Randolph, and the niece of Johnnie Randolph III.
He was arrested when he tried to flee a relative's home where he had taken the last two hostages after Alicia Dixon escaped. He was believed to have kidnapped the five in an attempt to lure his estranged wife to him. He was also sentenced to life in prison for the first-degree kidnapping charges, which will run concurrently.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Buster Landreau argued Tuesday that Martin should receive death by lethal injection because of the cruel nature of Martin's killings.
"I think if anybody ever deserved the death penalty, it was Brent Martin," Landreau said. "He was up there smirking at the victims' family. I feel like justice has been done."
Martin is already serving two life terms for attempted murder and escape from the Russell County Jail that left a corrections officer wounded in January 2006.