Martens Awaits Prison Sentence

MARTENS, ABEL

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 7/31/2014 at 17:41:42

The Mason City Globe-Gazette
April 3, 1935

MARTENS AWAITS PRISON SENTENCE

Keswick Farmer Convicted of Manslaughter in Wife Killing

NEWTON, Apr. 13 (UP)--District Judge W.S. Cooper will sentence Adolph Martens, Keswick farmer convicted of manslaughter in the slaying of his wife, Estella in August, April 2. Martens was convicted by a jury here late yesterday. He previously was acquitted at Sigourney on a charge of murdering his stepdaughter, Maxine Abel. While not seeking the death penalty, the state asked conviction for first degree murder. Martens pleaded self-defense, declaring he accidently shot his wife while attempting to wrest from her a shotgun with which he said she had threatened him. The maximum penalty for manslaughter is eight years imprisonment.