Former Rays First-Round Pick Brandon Martin Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murdering 3 People

Brandon Martin will spend the rest of his life behind bars. According to the Los Angeles Times, Martin, a former first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murdering three people with a baseball bat at his family’s home in 2015. Two of the victims were his father and uncle. Martin is not eligible for parole.

Martin, 27, used a wooden bat to beat his father, Michael Martin, 64; his uncle; Ricky Anderson, 58; and an alarm system installer, Barry Swanson, 62, who was at the family’s home at the time. The family was having an alarm system installed “because the family feared Brandon Martin,” according to the Riverside County district attorney’s office. Martin’s cousin called 911 when he discovered what happened. As mentioned by CBS Sports, Martin led police on a chase in 2015 after committing the murders. The former Rays prospect jumped out of a second-story window of a home and into a backyard where a police dog took him down. He was arrested and has been in jail ever since.

The jury in Riverside, California, deliberated less than a day before coming down with the verdict. Before sentencing, the Riverside County (Calf.) District Attorney’s Office was seeking the death penalty. Before the murders, Martin confessed that he choked his mother and threatened her with scissors. He also reportedly punched his father in the face and put his mother in a headlock.

Martin was one of the top baseball prospects in the country nearly 10 years ago. The Rays drafted him No. 38 overall in 2011 out of Santiago High School in Corona, California. Baseball America rated him as the third-best defensive shortstop in the county. He was looking to play college baseball at Oregon State before signing with the Rays. He played 155 games with three different minor league teams and posted 18 home runs, 74 RBIs and a .211 batting average.