Fourth Man Sentenced In 2017 Jail Rape Case
October 5, 2018 at 6:02 p.m.
Fourth Man Sentenced In 2017 Jail Rape Case
By David [email protected]
Kosciusko County Superior Court I Judge David Cates sentenced Tyler Ray Martin, 20, of Albion, on a level 6 felony intimidation charge to 2-1/2 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections, consecutive to Martin’s sentences in cases in three other counties. He received no jail time credit because any he earned went to his other cases.
Martin also was ordered to reimburse the county $300 for his appointed counsel and pay court costs.
“I agree with your attorney,” Cates told Martin. “You need to be out and working. You chose a different path.”
Martin had faced an additional charge of aiding, inducing or causing rape, a level 3 felony, but that was dropped. He pleaded to the intimidation charge on Aug. 30.
According to an Oct. 26 Times-Union story on incident, Timothy Freeman, then 23, faced charges of rape and intimidation. Danny Combs, then 18, and Christopher Orr, then 20, faced charges of aiding a rape, criminal confinement and intimidation. Tyler Martin, then 19, faced charges of aiding a rape and intimidation.
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The event began Oct. 15 when police say Martin demanded everyone’s breakfast muffins. The victim refused, and Martin said he would take the inmate’s tray at lunchtime.
Police allege Combs made the victim give his underwear to him under the threat of violence. The victim said Combs, Martin and Freeman threatened to hurt him. The victim said the men kicked him and hit him with a sandal for refusing to comply with their orders.
The victim said the men forced him to put his finger in Freeman’s rear, allegedly to retrieve drugs, or Orr would cover the security camera with toilet paper so they could beat him up, according to court records.
Jail staff checked surveillance cameras. The cameras showed Combs made the victim stand and shoved him toward Freeman. Orr used toilet paper to cover the camera, and Orr and Combs blocked the door to the holding cell to prevent the victim from leaving.
Orr told police that Freeman, Combs and Martin had forced the victim to retrieve drugs from Freeman. No drugs were found.
Freeman told police other people made the victim retrieve the drugs, but he didn’t.
At Thursday’s sentencing, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Brad Voelz said Martin’s sentence was a longtime coming and that Martin was the last to accept responsibility in this case.
“Five criminals go into a cell. Something bad happens. We know each will lie,” Voelz said, then asked what the level of culpability was for each man.
He said he and Martin’s defense attorney, David Kolbe, tried to determine that. One person said Martin was heavily involved in the case, while others said he didn’t have much to do with it.
Voelz said there was videotape that showed movement in the jail cell, but someone covered it up and there was no audio.
Martin has a terrible criminal history and he will have to deal with that all his life, Voelz said. “For someone so young, he has a long criminal history,”?he said.
Kolbe said Voelz was right that he and Voelz worked together to try to figure out the best outcome. They watched over 19 hours of video, but the quality was bad and there was no audio.
“Tyler’s role had to do with him physically sitting in a corner,” Kolbe said, acknowledging that they don’t know what he said during that time. He also said the case came down to bullying.
Kolbe said Martin has been in jail for 10 months, and needs to be out working and creating healthy relationships. He asked Martin to be given time through Community Corrections where he can be monitored electronically.
In his statements to Cates, Martin said he didn’t want to make excuses for what he did. He said he’s tried to improve his life over the last 10 months.
Cates told him the record he has is “horrible.” He said he has a substantial criminal history.
Kosciusko County Superior Court I Judge David Cates sentenced Tyler Ray Martin, 20, of Albion, on a level 6 felony intimidation charge to 2-1/2 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections, consecutive to Martin’s sentences in cases in three other counties. He received no jail time credit because any he earned went to his other cases.
Martin also was ordered to reimburse the county $300 for his appointed counsel and pay court costs.
“I agree with your attorney,” Cates told Martin. “You need to be out and working. You chose a different path.”
Martin had faced an additional charge of aiding, inducing or causing rape, a level 3 felony, but that was dropped. He pleaded to the intimidation charge on Aug. 30.
According to an Oct. 26 Times-Union story on incident, Timothy Freeman, then 23, faced charges of rape and intimidation. Danny Combs, then 18, and Christopher Orr, then 20, faced charges of aiding a rape, criminal confinement and intimidation. Tyler Martin, then 19, faced charges of aiding a rape and intimidation.
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The event began Oct. 15 when police say Martin demanded everyone’s breakfast muffins. The victim refused, and Martin said he would take the inmate’s tray at lunchtime.
Police allege Combs made the victim give his underwear to him under the threat of violence. The victim said Combs, Martin and Freeman threatened to hurt him. The victim said the men kicked him and hit him with a sandal for refusing to comply with their orders.
The victim said the men forced him to put his finger in Freeman’s rear, allegedly to retrieve drugs, or Orr would cover the security camera with toilet paper so they could beat him up, according to court records.
Jail staff checked surveillance cameras. The cameras showed Combs made the victim stand and shoved him toward Freeman. Orr used toilet paper to cover the camera, and Orr and Combs blocked the door to the holding cell to prevent the victim from leaving.
Orr told police that Freeman, Combs and Martin had forced the victim to retrieve drugs from Freeman. No drugs were found.
Freeman told police other people made the victim retrieve the drugs, but he didn’t.
At Thursday’s sentencing, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Brad Voelz said Martin’s sentence was a longtime coming and that Martin was the last to accept responsibility in this case.
“Five criminals go into a cell. Something bad happens. We know each will lie,” Voelz said, then asked what the level of culpability was for each man.
He said he and Martin’s defense attorney, David Kolbe, tried to determine that. One person said Martin was heavily involved in the case, while others said he didn’t have much to do with it.
Voelz said there was videotape that showed movement in the jail cell, but someone covered it up and there was no audio.
Martin has a terrible criminal history and he will have to deal with that all his life, Voelz said. “For someone so young, he has a long criminal history,”?he said.
Kolbe said Voelz was right that he and Voelz worked together to try to figure out the best outcome. They watched over 19 hours of video, but the quality was bad and there was no audio.
“Tyler’s role had to do with him physically sitting in a corner,” Kolbe said, acknowledging that they don’t know what he said during that time. He also said the case came down to bullying.
Kolbe said Martin has been in jail for 10 months, and needs to be out working and creating healthy relationships. He asked Martin to be given time through Community Corrections where he can be monitored electronically.
In his statements to Cates, Martin said he didn’t want to make excuses for what he did. He said he’s tried to improve his life over the last 10 months.
Cates told him the record he has is “horrible.” He said he has a substantial criminal history.
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