A Summit County jury has convicted a 44-year-old Akron man of all the rape and sex-abuse charges in an 11-count indictment.
Earl Wayne Martin, who was held in lieu of bond in the county jail throughout his eight-day trial, stood at the defense table without showing any visible emotion as the verdicts were read Friday afternoon in Common Pleas Judge Alison McCarty’s courtroom.
Martin faces four separate life sentences for four rape convictions, each of which carried a specification that the crimes were committed with force, plus additional sentences for seven counts of gross sexual imposition.
McCarty scheduled sentencing for 9 a.m. Oct. 25. She said she will allow victim-impact statements and anyone who wishes to speak on behalf of Martin also will be permitted to address the court.
Prosecutors said all of the victims, some of whom had sleepovers at Martin’s home, were girls ages 3 to 11. They said incidents began in 1989, when Martin was in his early 20s, and continued for 14 years.
Some of the victims now are adults.
Their identities are being withheld because the Beacon Journal generally does not name the victims of sexual abuse.
Martin’s lead defense attorney, Martin Adams of the Cochran Firm in Birmingham, Ala., said an appeal will be filed.
The firm, which also has offices in Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago, was founded 40 years ago by famed trial lawyer Johnnie Cochran, who died several years ago from a brain tumor.
After the verdicts, Adams spoke only briefly before leaving the county courthouse to return to Alabama.
“We did our best, and the jury spoke,” Adams said. “That’s what the justice system is all about.
“Evidence was presented, and 12 individuals agreed on a verdict. To get 12 people to agree on anything is difficult, as you know. But I think the system works, and we gave it 110 percent.”
He said he did not know whether his firm would handle Martin’s appeal.
Thanking the jury after the verdicts, McCarty acknowledged the difficult circumstances of the case.
“I know this is not an easy case to listen to and decide,” she said.
Last week, on the third day of the trial, two of the girls who were rape victims gave graphic testimony about how Martin abused them, Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Gregory Peacock said.
A social worker interviewed another victim for 45 minutes at Akron Children’s Hospital in July 2010, when she was 6 years old. In one of the more poignant moments of the trial, the recording was played in court.
As the girl was coloring a picture with crayons, she told the social worker how Martin had touched her private parts, saying in a clear, strong voice: “I think that’s kind of disgusting, don’t you?”
Martin took the stand this week.
Adams said his testimony was consistent throughout, even in cross-examination.
“He admitted that he tickled and wrestled with these kids, and kids who came over, and it was always innocent. There was nothing evil or sinister about what he was doing,” Adams said, “and, of course, he denied what they said he did as far as what was illegal.”
Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com.