Martin gets life behind bars for child sex assault
By Brandi Makuski
The Portage Co. District Attorney’s Office has secured a life sentence for a repeat child sex offender.
Michael D. Martin, 46, was found guilty by a jury on Feb. 23. He was charged last February with first-degree sex assault of a child under the age of 13.
The victim, identified in court records only as a female born in 2001, came forward in early 2017 alleging Martin sexually abused her several times at his Town of Grant home between 2007 and 2012.
Martin would then appease the girl’s silence by bringing her gifts and building her a new playhouse, according to court records.
Martin was previously convicted of engaging in repeat sexual acts with a child, and second-degree child sex assault, and had been sentenced to six years in prison by Judge Thomas Flugaur in 1999. This time around, he was facing a mandatory life term upon successful conviction.
The jury deliberated for about eight hours, handing down the verdict last Friday. Assistant District Attorney Cass Cousins prosecuted the case for the state.
“The sexual assault survivor in this case was able to tell the jury what happened to her so that she and other survivors never, ever have to worry about this defendant hurting them or other children in the future,” said District Attorney Louis Molepske. “Repeated acts of sexual assault of children finally caught up to the defendant who will now spend the rest of his life paying for those crimes.”