WAUKESHA (WI)
GM Today
By JAMES KOGUTKIEWICZ - GM Today Staff
September 21, 2005
WAUKESHA - A former Episcopalian priest convicted of child molestation faces another trial for the same crime after a federal appeals court threw out his 1995 conviction.
Russell Martin, 47, already served the requirements of a four-year prison sentence and parole period, completing it in August, but no longer is considered a sex offender in Wisconsin following Thursday’s ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The federal court found Martin’s lawyer performed inadequately in not objecting to a prosecutor’s closing arguments and two witnesses who testified at trial for the state. The prosecutor told the jury they should not be swayed by character witnesses for Martin’s defense because people like Jeffrey Dahmer and Theodore Oswald also had character witnesses at their trials.