High court upholds trafficked girl’s murder conviction

The Ohio Supreme Court upheld on Tuesday the murder conviction of a woman whose forced prostitution as a teenager was cited as a factor leading to her involvement in the fatal shooting of her pimp during a robbery.

The court’s 6-1 decision came in the case of a 2013 slaying of the Akron man and the wounding of another in a robbery that prosecutors say Alexis Martin helped plan.

Martin and her attorney argued that a Juvenile Court judge made a mistake when Martin’s history of sex trafficking wasn’t adequately explored at a hearing that determined whether she should be charged as an adult. Martin was 15 at the time of the slaying.

The Associated Press doesn’t typically identify victims of sexual assault or juveniles charged with crimes. In this case, Martin doesn’t have a problem with being named, according to her attorney.

Investigators say Martin and a female friend came up with the robbery plan with two other men. The victims were Martin’s pimp — Angelo Kerney — and his brother. The girls were having sex with the victims to distract them when the robbers entered a house and the victims were shot, according to court documents. Kerney was killed in the shooting. Martin is not accused of firing a gun.

The Juvenile Court judge should have determined that Martin was covered by a 2012 Ohio law that protects children whose crimes are related to their status as trafficking victims, according to Martin’s lawyer, Jennifer Kinsley.

Had the judge determined that the so-called Safe Harbor law applied, a courtappointed guardian for the teen could have been named, and that person could have investigated the full extent of her history of prostitution, Kinsley has said.

Ultimately, the judge determined that Martin could not be rehabilitated in the juvenile justice system and transferred her to adult court, where she pleaded guilty to murder and other charges.

Now 20, Martin is serving 21 years to life in prison.

Summit County prosecutors challenged Martin’s appeal, saying her activity the day of the robbery was separate from her history as a prostitute.