MCINTOSH COUNTY, OK – A McIntosh County man has been sentenced to life in federal prison for the second time for the 2013 murder of a Checotah woman he had previously dated.
David Deval Martin, 40, was convicted in October 2024 of murder in Indian Country after a federal jury found him guilty. The federal prosecution followed a Supreme Court decision requiring the case to be retried in U.S. District Court due to jurisdictional issues stemming from McGirt v. Oklahoma.
Martin was originally convicted in state court in 2016 and sentenced to life without parole, but that conviction was vacated following the Supreme Court ruling.
According to court records, Martin beat and stabbed the victim on November 7, 2013, inflicting more than 100 injuries to her head and neck. The medical examiner testified that the attack lasted 20 to 30 minutes or longer and that the victim was likely alive and conscious for much of the assault.
Hours before the murder, Martin had reportedly threatened the victim at a local convenience store. His DNA was later recovered from the scene, including from the victim’s blood, the front door, and the steering wheel of her abandoned vehicle. His fingerprint was also found on a metal rod used in the attack.
Martin will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transfer to a Bureau of Prisons facility to serve his life sentence without parole.
The investigation was led by the FBI, McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office, and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jared A. Hernandez and Brian W. Lynch of the Justice Department’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section.
