Man gets eight years for biting girl

A Cherokee County jury acquitted a 36-year-old man Wednesday of sexual battery on a 15-year-old girl but determined he committed aggravated assault on the child.

The jury found Leonard Scott Martin, 36, of 1339 Wilcox Ave., Gaffney, not guilty of 2nd-degree criminal sexual conduct on a minor but guilty of the lesser-included charge of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.

Detective Capt. Mike Fowlkes of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department signed the warrant.

Martin was sentenced to eight years in prison suspended to six years and two years probation. While on probation, he must undergo substance abuse and anger management counseling and submit to random drug and alcohol testing. He must pay $500 to the public defenders fund and have no contact with the victim or her family.

The girl’s mother contacted officers with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office after she claimed that Martin engaged in a sexual battery on her daughter on Feb. 28 while at their home.

“The defense is that it didn’t happen,” said public defender Thomas Shealy, calling the girl’s claims a fantasy. “My client has always denied the criminal sexual conduct. Our theory is that (the jury) rejected the idea of sex, but couldn’t get past the biting on the leg.”

Martin admitted biting the girl on her leg, Shealy said. There was a lack of DNA evidence to support the claim of sexual abuse, according to testimony.

The girl’s mother claims her daughter suffers from nightmares and sleeps with a knife beside her bed. She told the court her daughter has cut herself “because she wanted to let all the hurt out.”

Martin told the judge that drugs were the root of his problem and asked the judge to help him overcome his addiction.

“Drugs do something to your mind,” Martin said. “You know what’s going on, but you can’t stop it. You just keep thinking about that next taste.

“There’s drugs in jail, I’ve seen them in jail,” he said, asking to be committed to an 8-week program through Greenville’s Faith Homes. Instead the judge ordered him to attend substance abuse counseling while in prison.

Martin, who has been jailed since March 10, 2004, has a 1997 conviction for possession of Lortabs.