Chilton County Man Receives More Than Nine Years in Federal Prison for Murder-For-Hire Plot

MONTGOMERY, AL—Douglas Eugene “Gene” Martin, age 54, of Jemison, Alabama, was sentenced in United States District Court in Montgomery to 9 ½ years (114 months) in federal prison as a result of his conviction for murder-for-hire, U.S. Attorney Leura G. Canary announced today. Martin was also sentenced to serve three years of supervised release under the supervision of a federal probation officer after his release from prison. Martin pled guilty to committing murder-for-hire using the telephone lines. Martin was in federal custody pending federal firearms charges when he engaged in the murder-for-hire plot.

Martin used another inmate to attempt to hire someone to commit a murder in exchange for an offer of money from Martin. The offer was made using the telephone. No attempts to murder the intended victim were actually made because investigators discovered the murder-for-hire plan before it could be completed.

The case was investigated as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods and Middle District of Alabama’s Alabama ICE programs, aimed at preventing violent crime and the illegal possession of firearms. According to United States Attorney Leura G. Canary, “It is fortunate that the investigators in this case successfully protected the victim by exposing this murder-for-hire scheme before it could be executed. The sentence received by Mr. Martin should signal others who might want to hire people to commit violent crimes, that they face stiff punishment in this district.”

The case against Martin was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Chilton County Sheriff’s Office, and the Jemison Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorneys Matthew Shepherd and Nathan Stump.