LEHIGH COUNTY, Pa. – The skies above the Lehigh County Courthouse are as somber as the mood inside.

At the District Attorney’s office, staff members are remembering former District Attorney Jim Martin.

“You see him as a litigator, tough as nails litigator, getting the job done, but on the flip side, he loved golf. He loved his friends, and he loved his family,” said Attorney Steve Luksa, who served as Martin’s First Assistant District Attorney for 15 years.

“Someone that really taught me what it meant to be a prosecutor and what it meant to give back to the community,” said Heather Gallagher, Chief Deputy District Attorney.

Martin was Lehigh County’s ‘top cop’ for 26 years.

He retired in 2023, leaving behind an unrivaled legacy and a 97.7% conviction rate.

Martin died on August 15th.

Gavin Holihan succeeded Martin as District Attorney.

“I view us now, the office, building on the things that he did, working with the things that he built, the tools that he left us,” said Holihan.

Those tools include investigative grand juries, the Child Advocacy Center, Elder Abuse Task Force, and domestic violence court.

He created the Lehigh County Homicide Task Force and helped establish the Petzold Digital Forensics Lab.

But Martin considered his greatest achievement to be the Regional Intelligence and Investigative Center, a powerful crime-fighting database.

“We’re working with over 40 local police departments and two district attorneys’ offices across the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania State Police, the Attorney General’s Office, and a host of federal agencies who’ve become our partners, and Jim really saw this as a model that could be replicated elsewhere,” said Julia Kocis, Director of the RIIC.

Before Martin retired, he was humbled when the RIIC was named after him.

“He was an outstanding leader, boss, mentor, and friend to many, and he’s going to be greatly missed,” said Kocis.

Judges don’t usually do TV interviews, but Judge Brian Johnson says Martin’s passing is an exception.

While some may have thought of Martin as a sometimes Gruff, no-nonsense prosecutor, Johnson says Martin was a people person first.

“I’ve known Jim since I was in my 20s,” said Johnson. “He’s a really good guy, a force of nature.”

“He was an outstanding leader, boss, mentor and friend to many. He’s going to be greatly missed,” Kocis remarked.