A plot to kill behind bars?

SANTA ROSA COUNTY, Fla. – The trial for a murder behind bars has been put on hold for at least a year.

March 30, 2012 Ricky Martin was found beaten in his cell at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution, near Pensacola. Martin was found hog-tied, with a pair of bloody boxers over his head and he was lying in a pool of blood. WINK News obtained pictures of him at the hospital that show his face severely beaten and swollen.

Pictures inside his cell show bloody handprints on the walls and pools of blood on the cell floor. The 24-year-old was serving a six-year prison sentence for armed burglary. In 2007, he was arrested for breaking into a Collier County home. He was convicted of armed burglary because he stole guns from that home. Martin had a little more than a year left on his sentence, when he was found beaten in his cell.

In a 42-page internal investigation obtained by WINK News, witness testimony stated Martin’s cellmate, 34-year-old Shawn Rogers, beat him. Rogers was serving a life sentence for aggravated battery and armed robbery. Prison records show at the time of the beating, Rogers had already been in trouble for attacking five other inmates. Some of the attacks included hog-tying an inmate, kneeing another inmate in the face repeatedly and stabbing yet another. According to that same investigation, Rogers wrote a letter to his mother in which, “he admitted to killing his cellmate.”

Delayed trial

Last month, Rogers’ murder trial was supposed to start in Santa Rosa County, but it was put on hold after the Miami Herald published an article titled, “Was killing behind bars a set-up?”

Since then, Martin’s sisters, Felicia and Patricia Martin, spoke exclusively to WINK News about what they think happened to their little brother.

Both told WINK News they want people to know, “how the system really is inside the gates, inside the doors, because it’s totally different than what people think that are out here….We could have stopped it, if the right people stepped up and did their job.”

Warning Signs

After the March 30, 2012 incident, the Department of Corrections had its Office of Inspector General interview dozens of witnesses. The OIG interviewed 12 corrections officers and 75 inmates. Only one guard, Officer John Beaudry, was digitally recorded. WINK News obtained a copy of that recording. Officer Beaudry told the investigator at 7 p.m. he was doing a security check of the bottom floor.

“When we were doing security check, Inmate Rogers at 11-17 stopped and asked me a question, I believe for the time, I’m not sure,” he told investigators.

Beaudry also said he looked inside Rogers and Martin’s cell and both seemed fine. Beaudry said about 10 minutes later he was called back to that cell, and that was when he saw Martin had been beaten. The interview continued.

Investigator: “You seen all the blood.”
Beaudry: “Yes sir.”
Investigator: “Seen all the damage done to the inmate.”
Beaudry: “Yes sir.”
Investigator: “Do you think that could have been done within 10 minutes?”
Beaudry: “I think it could have been done within just a couple minutes.”

However, at least 30 inmates interviewed report a very different scenario. They said the guards were warned Martin was in danger, and the guards kept walking.

Inmate Anthony Bell told investigators he heard Rogers say, “I’m going to do it….beat-up his white cellmate.”

Inmate Kenrontay Bell said Rogers told Officer Beaudry, “that if he did not get the white boy [Martin] out of his cell, he was going to f— him up.”

Inmate Bradley Livingood he heard someone tell an officer, “Rogers in cell #D1-117 was killing his cellmate.”

In each instance, the inmates told investigators the guards continued walking.

“I think the guards were very irresponsible and did not do their job when they were told about it,” said Felicia. “They should have took action..My brother was murdered for no reason.”

Pleas for help

Felicia and Patricia Martin told WINK News they think the guards intentionally put their brother in that cell with Shawn Rogers and ignored the other inmates warnings. But the question is, why?

WINK News obtained a copy of a grievance filed by Ricky Martin in November 2011, before he was transferred to Santa Rosa prison and put in a cell with Rogers.

Martin wrote, “I’m filing this grievance cause [sic] I feel that my life is in jeoprdy. [sic] I was transfered[sic] in [the] middle of the night from North West Florida Reception Center on account of me telling on Officer Rittenberry about having a fight club in food services.”

His grievance was denied, and instead officials moved Martin to Santa Rosa.

“I would ask them why first, what did he do? What was he trying to tell us that you wanted to keep him quiet? Because he just wasn’t placed in that cell just to be placed in that cell because they didn’t have any cells, come on now,” said Felicia. “Why did you keep jumping him from prison to prison and then you sent him to one of the worst prisons in Florida? What were you trying to hide?”

Troubled past

The Martin children were moved from Ohio to Naples, Florida after their parents were murdered. Patricia said Ricky was only two-years-old at the time. The three children were raised by their grandparents, but Martin’s sisters said their brother lacked a parental figure and acted out.

“He lost a lot. He’s been through a lot. We all have,” Felicia said.

Department of Corrections

WINK News contacted the DOC Spokesperson McKinely Lewis and asked about the internal investigation. Lewis said the OIG found the guards did not violate policy and therefore were not reprimanded.

However, Lewis said they have changed the housing policy since the incident. Lewis did not elaborate on how they now determine which inmates share a cell, but he did say this new policy will “reduce violence.”
Murder Trial

Shawn Rogers’ trial was scheduled to begin January 12, 2015; however, it was delayed after the Miami Herald article. The trial is now scheduled to begin in January 2016.