Atlanta man sentenced to death in triple murder case

<p>A southwest Atlanta man who murdered a 12-year-old and the boy's two great-grandparents was given the death penalty Thursday by a Fulton County Superior Court judge.</p><p>De'Kelvin Martin had hoped to receive life in prison without parole after pleading guilty and requesting that a judge, instead of a jury, decide his fate.</p><p>But Superior Court Judge Gail Tusan decided Martin should die by lethal injection.</p><p>Earlier this week, Martin pleaded guilty to felony murder, murder, aggravated sodomy and robbery in the bloody October 2002 stabbing deaths of Savion Wright and his great-grandparents, Travis Ivery, 83, and his wife, Ila, 77.</p><p>Martin's attorneys had argued that he is mentally ill and was abusing cocaine and beer when he flew into a rage at the southwest Atlanta home of his girlfriend, Tymika Wright, 34.</p><p>Martin also lived in the home.</p><p>Wright told police Martin reeked of alcohol when he came to the house and forced her to perform oral sex. She said Martin then pulled a large kitchen knife out of the dishwasher as they argued.</p><p>Wright was stabbed several times but survived.</p><p>She told police that Savion, who had gotten up to go to the bathroom, unwittingly walked into Martin's path and was stabbed first. The commotion awakened Ila Ivery, who was stabbed when she opened her bedroom door to investigate, Wright told police. Travis Ivery was stabbed before making it out of his bedroom, she said.</p><p>"This crime is pure evil, absolute evil," prosecutor Ron Boyter said during closing arguments in the death penalty phase of the trial Thursday. "Don't let evil triumph, your honor. Do justice."</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x2866628)</p>