NILES – Parnell Martin, one of five Niles High School students accused in a Facebook sex extortion case, was sentenced Monday to a minimum of 4 years but no more than 15 years in prison.
Both Trey Nichols and Parnell Martin pleaded guilty. Prosecutors say the five teens taped a girl having sex with one of them and then threatened to post it on Facebook if she didn't have sex with the others.
Nichols' attorney turned in some paperwork about sentencing guidelines Monday morning. Judge Scott Schofield wanted time to go over that paperwork, so Nichols' sentencing has been postponed until Tuesday morning.
Those formalities did not delay the sentencing for Martin, who fought back tears as he told the judge he knew what he did was wrong.
Martin apologized to the victim, his family and the court, and told the judge he didn't have a clue that when his friends, Martell Miller, Martise Washington and Leon Murphy picked him up they would be forcing a teen to perform sex acts to stop her sex video from appearing on Facebook.
Judge Schofield told Martin he knew what he did was wrong, but he did it, anyway.
Before sentencing, attorneys argued about Martin's conduct that night, because of its affect on his sentencing.
Schofield sentenced the teen to 4 to 15 years for the harm he caused the victim.
“She testified she didn't know if she would make it out alive,” said Assistant Prosecutor Steve Pierangeli. “Her fear – it definitely increased her fear of what was going on that night. She was alone in a car with three men, being driven around to places that she didn't know where she is.”
Four of the five teens pleaded guilty:
- Martell Miller will likely spend a year in jail.
- A judge sentenced Leon Murphy to seven years in prison.
- Martise Washington, the only one of the five to go to trial, was sentenced to at least 20 years in prison.
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