RIDGWAY — An Elk County jury has found Nicholas Martin guilty of first-degree murder in the 2013 stabbing death of his teenage girlfriend, electing the toughest charge at its disposal and one that could see the 24-year-old sentenced to life in prison.
In reaching the verdict on Monday, a panel of six male and six female primary jurors decided Martin acted knowingly when he stabbed 18-year-old Alyssa Forsyth more than 100 times inside his First Avenue apartment in Johnsonburg on March 23, 2013.
The jurors rejected a sprawling defense mounted at last week’s trial in which lawyers for Martin acknowledged his guilt, while listing his substance abuse, “precarious” mental state and rocky relationship with the victim as factors deserving of a lesser conviction.
Prosecutors with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, in pushing for the highest possible murder charge, challenged defense claims that an intoxicated Martin snapped when confronted with Forsyth’s alleged infidelity and drug use following the recent loss of a pregnancy. Martin said he believed the child to be his.
Instead, the state portrayed him as an abusive boyfriend who publicly threatened to kill Forsyth in the days leading up to her death and who in the days after it used her cellphone to send reassuring messages to worried family.
“He’s an angry, rageful young man who’s responsible for his own behavior,” prosecuting attorney Laura Ditka said in closing arguments on Monday.
In the end, the jury agreed, handing down the toughest of three possible verdicts — first-degree murder, third-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter — presented for their consideration. Deliberations lasted more than three hours.
Martin was also convicted Monday of abuse of a corpse, a misdemeanor count, for disposing of Forsyth’s body in a wooded corner of Ridgway Township’s Sandy Beach park. The body was found there on March 26, 2013, nude, stuffed in trash bags and prosecutors say, “riddled with stab wounds.”
Martin’s lawyers never contested the misdemeanor charge, instead redoubling their efforts on the first-degree homicide count that could see their client locked away for life. The death penalty has not been pursued in this case.
Sentencing of Martin has yet to be scheduled but will take place after the completion of a court-ordered pre-sentence investigation report due by mid-May.
On Monday, members of Forsyth’s family, wearing purple ribbons and shirts referencing domestic violence awareness, sat across the courtroom from a small group consisting primarily of Martin’s father and stepmother.
Both sides prayed silently as the jury foreman prepared to read the verdict aloud and both cried after it was delivered, each for wholly different reasons.
A woman who identified herself only as Forsyth’s grandmother said on her way out of the courthouse building, “the justice system does work.”
Forsyth’s mother Susan Trumbull — who testified on the stand last week that her daughter’s death had brought the family closer together while continuing to tear her “further apart” — declined to comment on the verdict when approached by The Era for comment afterward.
Michael Marshall, a DuBois-based attorney and half of Martin’s legal defense team, said they plan to look at avenues of appeal while declining to divulge more at this early stage.
Prior to the verdict being delivered, Martin’s father Mike, a Ridgway resident, said of his son, “He’s on pins and needles. Over the weekend he vented — there’s a lot of stress — and yesterday (Sunday) he said ‘It’s going to be what it’s going to be.’”
As a father, the elder Martin said, “I wish I had more control.”
Mike Martin’s wife, Sheri, said of her stepson, “He wishes he could ring a bell and change the whole thing,” adding, “It’s a tragedy. A young life was lost. There are many victims to this crime.”
With the verdict handed down, Martin told his family he loved them before being shackled and led from the courtroom.
He will continue to be held in custody without rights to bail, where he has remained since his March 26, 2013 arrest.
