"Natural Life Plus 60 Years In Prison"

Uptown doesn't have to worry about Spencer Martin any more.

The Vice Lords gang member, now 35 years old, formerly of the 4200 block of Broadway, will be making the Illinois Department of Corrections his home for the rest of his life, according to a judge's ruling Thursday.  "Natural life plus sixty years in prison."  No parole.  No deals.  No earned time off for good behavior.

Residents who were here in 2006 might remember the robbery and shooting at the BP station at Lawrence and Clarendon on February 4th of that year.  A video showed a van rolling up, driven by one man (later identified as Earl Willis), and another man (later identified as Spencer Martin) getting out to rob a customer who was there buying potato chips.  Mr. Martin shot the man in the pelvis, and attempted to shoot him again, three times, but the gun jammed.  The van then took off.

The 23rd District court advocates followed the case.  Someone who was in court for the sentencing told us how Mr. Martin's attorney pleaded for his client, citing that he was an involved father, he supported his family, and that he was continuing his education.  He made some good points, the judge said, but if that gun hadn't jammed, they would all be there looking at a murder charge.  The judge sentenced Mr. Martin to 24 years in the pen.

But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

For all the good things his attorney said about him, Spencer Martin had some secrets.  For one, he had tried to pay off the victim not to testify against him.  For another, he had shot and tried to murder two brothers who bumped into him at Fat Albert's restaurant at 69th and Ashland three weeks before the BP robbery.  And the biggest secret of all, he had murdered the driver of the van, Earl Willis, shortly after the robbery at the BP station.  The videotape of Mr. Willis driving the van away from the BP station was the last time he was ever seen alive.

But there was another secret Mr. Martin didn't know:  His driver was a federal informant.  At the time of his death, Earl Willis was an "active informant" for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

It's all very CSI how they caught him, with DNA matching Mr. Martin taken from a bottle of brandy found in the pocket of the coat covering Mr. Willis's body, and bullet casings from all three incidents matching.  You can read about it in the Sun-Times and Tribune.  It was a very nice job by the police on a cold case.

The murder of a federal informant ensured that Spencer Martin will never again live as a free man.  Remember the name next time you vote for judges:  "Steven Goebel."  A strong sentence for a harsh crime.