Garner Sentenced in Murder of Dundalk Bar Owner

Robert Garner was sentenced today in the Baltimore County Circuit Court to 60 years in prison for the murder-for-hire killing of Dundalk businessman Lee Martin.

Garner had pleaded guilty before Judge Robert E. Cahill, Jr. on November 21, 2011, according to a press release from Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger.

"We're very happy with the sentence," Shellenberger said Wednesday. "Garner will be serving in prison for a long time — it's exactly what we requested."

Martin, the brother-in-law of Garner, was killed as he left the bar he owned, the Hops Inn in Dundalk, at about 2 a.m. on May 22, 2010. He was shot eight times.

A Baltimore County Police Department investigation determined that Garner was ask by his sister, Jaclyn Martin, to kill her husband, according to the statement.

Jaclyn Martin provided money for Garner to buy a gun and called her husband at the bar just before he stepped out of the establishment.

Garner, with the assistance of Brandon Roth and Sturm Davis, ambushed and shot Lee Martin as he was walking to his house next to the bar.

Roth, who drove the getaway car, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and was sentenced to 20 years with all but seven years suspended, according to the statement.

Davis pled guilty to armed robbery and the use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence and was sentenced to 30 years with all but ten years suspended.

Davis thought the victim was only going to be robbed.

Jaclyn Martin pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on January 13. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 16 before Cahill, according to the statement.

Prosecutors are asking that Martin serve 60 years in prison.

"We always want to punish the shooter the most but, in this case, she started the ball rolling and we believe she should be punished equally," Shellenberger said of Jaclyn Martin. "Garner had no independent reason to kill (Lee Martin) but for her request for him to do so."

Whatever Jaclyn Martin thought she would accomplish through the commission of this crime, Shellenberger said he's pretty sure she will get just the opposite: "She'll probably spend the rest of her life in jail."