Martinson PHOTO: Oneida Co. Sheriff
An 18-year-old Wisconsin girl has pleaded guilty to killing her mother and stepfather. Ashlee Martinson appeared in Oneida County court on Friday morning and entered the plea as part of an agreement with prosecutors. Under the plea deal, prosecutors will recommend a jail sentence of 40 years.
Martinson could have faced life in prison if convicted at trial.
Martinson pled guilty to two counts of second-degree intentional homicide in the stabbing death of 40-year-old Jennifer Ayers and the shooting death of 37-year-old Thomas Ayers at the family’s home on March 8, 2015. She had originally been charged with two counts of first degree intentional homicide.
The state will be recommending 40 years in prison for the deaths, while the defense is recommending 8 years in prison.
In lengthy court documents made public, a long history of abuse within the Ayers home is alleged. Oneida County Judge Michael Bloom said the facts on the record would give a person of conscience some sympathy for the situation Martinson found herself in.
Judge Bloom accepted Martinson’s plea and set a day-long sentencing date of June 17.
Martinson, who had just turned 17 at the time of the murders, was arrested in Indiana on the night of the crime, along with her boyfriend, 22-year-old Ryan D. Sisco.
Under the plea agreement, charges stemming from locking her three younger sisters in a room and fleeing to Indiana with her boyfriend were dropped.
WSAU