Brandon Martin, a former Tampa Bay Rays first-round draft pick, was convicted in the 2015 grisly murder of his disabled father, uncle and an alarm installer in California, prosecutors said Thursday.
Martin was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder.
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Prosecutors said that Martin beat the three men, Michael Martin, 64, Rickey Anderson, 58, and Barry Swanson, 62, with a black wooden baseball bat engraved with the former baseball player’s name on it in September 2015 at their family home in Corona, according to KTTV.
Swanson, an ADT installer, was at the home because “the family feared Brandon Martin,” the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said in a press release. Michael Martin was Brandon’s father and Rickey Anderson was the uncle.
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Martin’s cousin discovered the bodies. According to the station, police took Martin to a hospital for a psych evaluation and he was released the day of the killings.
Martin reportedly led police on a chase the day after the murders but was later apprehended.
The circumstances around Martin’s conviction makes him eligible for the death penalty, according to Los Angeles’ KTTV, Fox 11. The jury will hear evidence and testimony in the penalty phase which will determine whether the former ballplayer will get life in prison without parole or sentenced to death.
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The Rays selected Martin in the first round of the 2011 MLB Draft out of Santiago High School in Corona. He was with the Rays’ organization until 2013 when he was released over “personal matters.”
He hit a career .211 with 18 home runs and 74 RBI between the Rookie and Class-A levels.
