David Deval Martin, Murder, Oklahoma 2024

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – In a case that spans over a decade, David Deval Martin, a 40-year-old man from McIntosh County, Oklahoma, has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2013 murder of a Checotah woman.

On November 7, 2013, Martin viciously beat and stabbed the victim, causing over 109 separate injuries to her head and neck. The medical examiner estimated that it would have taken Martin “20 to 30 [minutes] or longer” to inflict these wounds, and that the victim was alive, and likely conscious, for much of her own murder.

Just hours before Martin killed the victim, he was seen threatening her at a local convenience store by pointing his fingers at her head in the shape of a gun. Investigators recovered Martin’s DNA mixed with the victim’s own blood from the front door of the home, and Martin’s fingerprint on the handle of a metal rod used to beat the victim. Martin’s DNA was also recovered from the steering wheel of the victim’s abandoned car.

The case was investigated by the McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

David Deval Martin was initially found guilty of first-degree murder in 2016 and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. However, his conviction was vacated after the Supreme Court decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma, as Martin is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe, and the crime occurred within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation.

Martin was subsequently charged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, and a federal jury found Martin guilty on one count of Murder in Indian Country in October 2024.

“The defendant in this case brutally murdered his victim in cold blood,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti. “By retrying the case and securing a life sentence for the Defendant, the government has demonstrated our commitment to seeking justice for the victims of violent crime in Indian Country.”

“Thanks to the work of the McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and FBI Oklahoma City, this depraved and merciless killer has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in federal prison,” said FBI Oklahoma City Special Agent in Charge Doug Goodwater.

Mandatory Facts: Defendant: David Deval Martin, Exact Criminal Charges: Murder in Indian Country, City: MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA, Exact Date: October 2024, Sentence: Life in prison without the possibility of parole, Dollar amounts: N/A

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