Andrez Martina convicted in beating death of 12-year-old grandson Andre Smith

Andre Smith

Andrez Martina was convicted Thursday in the shocking and brutal fatal beating of his 12-year-old grandson, Andre R. Smith II.

While on the witness stand Thursday, Martina expressed almost no remorse for the attack, for which he was accused of using at least six weapons to beat Andre after accusing him of stealing money. He said he acted in self-defense, despite being twice the size of his grandson and the attack lasting at least an hour.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Stephanie Rothstein called the testimony “troubling” before convicting Martina of five felonies, including first-degree intentional homicide. That conviction alone means Martina, 53, will be sentenced to life in prison.

The attack occurred during the overnight hours on Aug. 29, 2021, in his home on the 4600 block of North 46th Street on Milwaukee’s north side. It was witnessed by Martina’s mother, who is disabled and could not intervene, and by Andre’s 8-year-old brother, who suffered a broken finger and bruising, according to the criminal complaint.

Martina attacked Andre with a mallet, a sledgehammer, two belts, a coat rack and a cane after he awoke in the middle of the night to find money missing from his wallet, the complaint said.

Andre came from a family of six other siblings. He enjoyed watching his older brothers play basketball and talked about one day becoming an architect, according to Illysha McCroy, his grandmother and legal guardian.

Last fall, Martina pleaded not guilty by mental disease or defect, but withdrew that plea after being examined by a doctor, according to online court records. He waived his right to a jury trial in March, leaving the verdict in the hands of Rothstein.

Martina was previously convicted of first-degree reckless homicide in Milwaukee County in 1990, online court records show. After previously living in Indiana, Martina moved back to Milwaukee three months before the attack to build a relationship with his grandchildren.

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In his testimony Thursday, Martina said that after confronting Andre about the money, but before the violence began, he had Andre search several rooms so he could return the money. After a while, he said, Andre eventually armed himself with Martina’s handgun and pointed it at his grandfather.

Martina said he then acted in self-defense when he wrestled the gun away from Andre and in the process knocked the child’s head against a wall.

Martina said he was drunk at the time and repeatedly claimed he was not in the right state of mind. After Andre’s head hit a wall, Martina said he blacked out from there. He could recall at least one moment when his mother told him to stop.

He said if he had been in the right frame of mind, “none of this would have happened.”

In an interview with police after the incident, Martina said he had told the boys in the past, “If you lie, if you mess up in school, if you steal, I’m going to kill you,” the complaint said.

He told police he lost control in beating Andre, and “will have to deal with this (expletive) for the rest of my life.”

In closing arguments, Martina’s attorney, Russell Jones, raised the idea that Martina became involuntarily intoxicated before he returned home the night of the attack. But Rothstein rejected that assertion, saying there was nothing in the record to indicate Martina was hospitalized or tested under such concerns after the attack.

During his testimony, Martina himself said he routinely drank alcohol to help fall asleep.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Torbenson also rejected Martina’s claim at self-defense, calling Martina’s actions a vicious and brutal “unrelenting assault.”

Andre and his younger brother were staying with Martina after he asked McCroy if he could host them for a night.

McCroy told the Journal Sentinel last year that Martina’s early efforts to build a relationship with the boys had been pleasant. He worked up the street from the family home at an ice cream parlor and he brought them treats and took them shopping.

Andre’s mother, Nakeda Martina, told the Journal Sentinel last year that she lost custody of Andre in 2017 and was “livid” when she heard Andrez Martina was being allowed near her kids.

Martina’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 6.

Contact Elliot Hughes at elliot.hughes@jrn.com or 414-704-8958. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Andrez Martina convicted in brutal beating of 12-year-old grandson