A Pittsburgh man is headed to prison for at least 11 years in a plea deal over the gruesome killing of his 5-day-old son.
By the account of the presiding judge, Shawn Martin got off easy.
“Arguably, you should be facing the death penalty for this conduct,” Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Eliot Howsie told Martin during his sentencing. “I’m not a supporter of the death penalty … but I can see how someone could argue for it in this case.”
“This is one of the worst cases I’ve dealt with, as an attorney or as a judge.”
Martin, 32, of the city’s Northview Heights neighborhood, pleaded no contest Tuesday to third-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child in the 2023 death of Jah’Shawn Martin.
The boy’s head was struck so hard that pieces of his skull separated from each other and shattered.
It was the second time Martin has negotiated with prosecutors over his fate. He pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in June but withdrew the plea before sentencing.
Martin faced a maximum jail sentence of 40 years for the third-degree murder charge. Under the plea deal, he could be in prison for up to 28 years.
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Martin has been in custody since his arrest on Jan. 12, 2024.
Martin, dressed Tuesday in a powder-blue, button-down shirt and striped tie, bowed his head through much of the hourlong hearing. He said little in court besides answering questions — mostly “yes” or “no” — in a hushed voice.
When Martin pleaded guilty last year, the potential deal called for a 12-year minimum sentence, according to his lawyer at the time, Patrick Nightingale.
On Tuesday, as jurors entered their third hour of waiting for Martin’s scheduled trial to begin, the defendant brought sentencing to a halt when he told Howsie that he was not satisfied with his new court-appointed attorney — Thomas N. Farrell, who succeeded Nightingale.
Farrell and Martin spoke with each other, microphones at the defense table switched off, before resuming the plea hearing.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled blunt-force trauma to the head as the cause of Jah’Shawn’s death.
It took Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Sarah Weikart more than five minutes Tuesday to read into the court record all of the baby’s injuries, which included multiple fractures and hemorrhages.
The forensic pathologist who examined Jah’Shawn’s body said “she has never seen an infant with injuries this severe,” Weikart said.
An adult would have suffered similar injuries from falling 20 to 30 stories, or being struck by a tractor trailer, she said.
“It’s a horrible case,” Farrell said after the hearing. “Nobody wins in this. Everybody’s lost. It’s terrible.”
‘I’m sorry’
Prosecutors said Jah’Shawn was born on Dec. 11, 2023. He and his mother, De’Azaia Spearman, were released from West Penn Hospital two days later, but she had to return because of complications. She left Jah’Shawn at home in the care of his father, who also had their 2-year-old at home.
On Dec. 15, Weikert said, Martin took the newborn for his first pediatrician’s appointment and then returned home. Doctor’s notes from that day showed the baby was “in good health,” she added.
That evening, Martin and Spearman were on the phone together when they both fell asleep with the phone line open, prosecutors said.
Spearman told police she woke up around 10:45 to hear the baby screaming in an “abnormal” way, Weikert said Tuesday. The new mother yelled for Martin to wake up but could not get him to respond.
She hung up and tried to call him 20 times unsuccessfully. Spearman then called a friend and asked him to go to their Mt. Pleasant Road home to check on the baby.
The friend, Hezekiah Odom, arrived around 11:15 p.m. and entered the house. He told Spearman the baby was in a baby seat sleeping, and that Martin was sleeping on the couch nearby.
Odom took a picture and sent it to Spearman, who recognized Jah’Shawn was not positioned appropriately. She asked Odom to wake Martin.
Odom did and then left the house. Martin called Spearman, the criminal complaint said, and reported that Jah’Shawn was not breathing.
They called 911. Martin said “I’m sorry” to the dispatcher, according to Farrell, Martin’s attorney. Jah’Shawn was rushed to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
He died there a few hours later.
‘My life is in shambles’
Imaging of Jah’Shawn’s body showed that he sustained at least one — but possibly multiple — blows to the head. He had bleeding as well as multiple skull fractures, and sustained trauma to his right upper arm, as well.
Doctors called it “forcibly inflicted trauma” that could not have been caused accidentally. Prosecutors Tuesday said the baby likely suffered “substantial pain” before dying.
In interviews with Pittsburgh detectives, Martin said he did not know what happened to his son because he was asleep.
Martin said that after Odom left, he picked up Jah’Shawn and started to kiss him.
It was then, Martin said, that he noticed the baby was limp and unresponsive.
In his interview with detectives, Martin said he had no idea what happened to Jah’Shawn.
“Mr. Martin said he was just as confused as detectives,” the complaint said.
When the detectives said Jah’Shawn died from powerful blows to the head, “Mr. Martin said he doesn’t know how that happened because he was asleep,” according to the complaint.
None of Martin’s family attended Tuesday’s hearing, Howsie said. Jah’Shawn’s mother provided the only victim statement in court.
“I don’t know what to say — I didn’t expect this to happen,” said Spearman, who told the judge she knew Martin for six years before the incident. “I told him: ‘Don’t drink. Don’t smoke. Don’t do nothing.’”
Spearman said Jah’Shawn’s death has been hard on both her and the baby’s siblings.
“My life is in shambles,” Spearman said as she wept. “It’s hard for me and I’m disappointed. I’m just so disappointed.”