Should girl who killed pimp get a break for being sex slave?

COLUMBUS » No one disputes that a 15-year-old Ohio girl involved in the slaying of a man during a robbery five years ago was at one time, in the words of the state’s Supreme Court chief justice, “a forced sex slave.” What is up for debate before the Ohio Supreme Court is the impact of the girl’s prostitution on her role in that killing.

The defendant, Alexis Martin, and her attorney argue that a juvenile judge made a mistake when Martin’s history of sex trafficking wasn’t adequately explored at a hearing that determined whether the girl should be charged as an adult.

The Associated Press doesn’t normally identify victims of sexual assault or juveniles charged with crimes. In this case, Martin has been frequently identified in the media and court documents and doesn’t have a problem with being named, her attorney said.

Investigators say Martin and a female friend came up with the robbery plan with two other men. The victims were Martin’s pimp 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. Martin is not accused of firing a gun.

Martin’s lawyer, Jennifer Kinsley, says 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.

Had the judge determined that the so-called Safe Harbor law applied, a court-appointed guardian for the girl could have been named, and that person could have investigated the full extent of the girl’s history of prostitution, Kinsley says.