Christina Martin
A Dessert Served Cold
“Jell-O Murder” Case Profiled by Forensic Files
Show to Air April 2nd on Court TV
CAMBRIDGE, MA–Court TV will profile the landmark case of Christina Martin, aka “the Jell-O Murderer,” on the April 2 episode of its hit documentary series, Forensic Files. The show will air at 9 or 9:30 p.m., check local listings.
Dubbed the “Jell-O Murderer” by local press, Ms. Martin – a New Bedford, MA native – was convicted of first degree murder in 1992 for poisoning her boyfriend Richard Alfredo’s Jell-O with LSD. Forensic Files documents how criminal defense attorney Kevin J. Mahoney overturned Martin’s conviction, his strategy for the new trial, and his securing of Ms. Martin’s eventual release from prison. To overturn the conviction, Attorney Mahoney assembled a renowned team of toxicology and forensic experts, contending the District Attorney’s Office 1) withheld exculpatory toxicology evidence, and 2) that defendant’s original trial attorney had provided ineffective counsel by failing to challenge the cause-of-death evidence. Ms. Martin’s conviction was overturned in 1996 by Judge Doerfer of the New Bedford Superior Court. His decision was upheld on appeal by the Supreme Judicial Court. As the second trial approached, the prosecution offered, and Ms. Martin accepted, a plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter and a recommendation from the D.A.’s Office of a sentence of “time served,” effectively freeing Martin.
Forensic Files airs at weekdays from 9:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Court TV and on weekends on NBC. The show is “a high-tech, fact-based, half-hour series, delves into the world of forensic science, profiling intriguing crimes, accidents and outbreaks of disease from around the world.”
Forensic Files producers state that the case drew its attention because Attorney Mahoney and his experts had used forensic evidence to undo the injustice done to Ms. Martin.
Mahoney sees the coverage as an opportunity to further exonerate Ms. Martin, and bring attention to the team of experts who worked tirelessly – and in some cases free of charge – for 3 years to expose an injustice. “This is a case where sound science overcame the shoddy science used by unethical law enforcement personnel to sandbag my client,” states Mahoney. Forensic Files also interviewed Dr. David Benjamin, the pharmacologist/toxicologist that volunteered his time and expertise to Ms. Martin’s cause, and some members of the law enforcement team. “Interestingly,” adds Mahoney “the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office refused to cooperate with Forensic Files in the making of this show.”
Attorney Mahoney is a Cambridge based criminal defense attorney.
First-Degree Murder
When Mahoney entered the case, Ms. Martin had been convicted of First-Degree Murder. Today, she’s free.
Commonwealth vs. Christina Martin
1998 — Seeking A New Trial
April, 1998-In a scathing review of former lawyer’s inadequacies, Mahoney charges ahead during hearing on motion for new trial. Mahoney proves District Attorney’s office buried exculpatory toxicology evidence.
Commonwealth vs. Christina Martin
1998—New Trial Ordered by SJC
July, 1998-The Supreme Judicial Court agrees with the Superior Court’s decision granting Martin a new trial.
Commonwealth vs. Christina Martin
1998 — Lawyer May be Replaced
July, 1998-In a move to derail Ms. Martin’s defense, the chief counsel of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services sends Mahoney a letter stating that a new lawyer was appointed to Ms. Martin. Mahoney remains as counsel after offering to represent Martin pro bono.
Commonwealth vs. Christina Martin
1998—New Trial Ordered by SJC
September, 1998-Superior Court judge grants Assistant District Attorney’s request for a continuance. Mahoney states his opinion that seven weeks should have been adequate preparation time.
May, 1996-Mr. Mahoney became the new attorney for Ms. Martin while she was incarcerated in Framingham State Prison for her conviction of first-degree murder. Martin was accused of murdering her boyfriend by poisoning his Jell-O with LSD. He sought a new trial in order to overturn that 1992 conviction.
Commonwealth vs. Christina Martin
1996— New Trial Appealed to Supreme Judicial Court
May, 1996-District Attorney’s office asks Supreme Judicial Court to overturn Superior Court judge’s decision to grant new trial.
Commonwealth vs. Christina Martin
1997— New Trial Granted
May, 1997-Mahoney proves to Superior Court Judge Doerfed that,
1. The District Attorney’s office withheld from Martin’s original lawyer toxicology results that proved that there was no LSD in Alfredo’s tissue samples, and
2. Martin’s lawyer was tragically incompetent in his failure to challenge the prosecutor’s cause-of-death hypothesis.
Commonwealth vs. Christina Martin
1999–Christina Freed!!
February, 1999-Faced with a list of experts prepared to testify on behalf of the Defense–which read like a compendium of Who’s Who in Forensic Sciences– the Assistant District Attorney made an offer Martin could not refuse — manslaughter with no additional prison time. Martin pleads guilty to manslaughter, but later states that she accepted the offer in order to avoid further prison time. After serving eight and a half years in prison, she is released.
The Commonwealth vs. Christina Martin
Police cite inside job in break-in
‘Jell-O murder’ figure charged in Acushnet home invasion
February 1, 2003
By Ben Conery
Standard-Times correspondent
ACUSHNET — A woman who claimed responsibility for the infamous 1990 “Jell-O murder” has been charged in connection with a December home invasion in Acushnet, police said yesterday.
Teasha L. Pauline, 28, also known as Larie Martin, of 78 Tallman St., New Bedford, had been a home health aide for the victim, a 90-year-old bedridden woman, according to court documents.
Records show she was fired last February from that job. However, police say she tipped off suspects in the home invasion that the woman had prescription drugs and neither she, nor a 67-year-old caretaker, would put up a fight.
Prosecutors allege Ms. Pauline’s information was used by those who broke into the house and terrorized the elderly woman and her companion during the early-morning hours of Dec. 19.
They made off with a small amount of cash and the prescription drugs, Prisolec, a stomach acid-reducer, and Xanax, a tranquilizer. They also tied up the caretaker and stole her ATM card and personal identification number at knife point and emptied the ATM account of several hundred dollars, according to police reports.
The elderly woman has since moved to a nursing home, according to family members.
All told, five New Bedford men face home invasion charges in the case. Three were arraigned in late January, while two others were arrested in December.
“We knew right from the get-go it had to be inside information,” said Acushnet Police Chief Michael Poitras.
Chief Poitras said Ms. Pauline is known to police.
In 1992, while her mother Christina Martin was on trial for killing her live-in boyfriend by lacing his strawberry Jell-O with LSD, Ms. Pauline testified she had actually poisoned Richard Alfredo.
The then-17-year-old alleged Mr. Alfredo had sexually molested her.
Ms. Martin was eventually convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison; the conviction was overturned in 1997 on grounds that she had inadequate legal representation and the state withheld key evidence.
She was given a new trial and, as part of her manslaughter plea bargain, was released from jail, having served 81&Mac218;2 years.
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