STATE : Mother Jailed for Son’s Death

MODESTO —  A prison sentence of 25 years to life was handed down today to a Modesto woman convicted of complicity in the beating death of her 3-year-old son by her lesbian lover.

Prosecutor James Brazelton said he believes that Ivy Lynn Martin is the first person in the state and possibly the nation convicted by a jury of first-degree murder even though she did not beat the child herself.

He explained that the jury convicted Martin “on the theory that, as a parent, she owed a duty to protect the child. She did not do that.”

Brazelton contended that the mother “had ample opportunity” to notify authorities that Jerome Martin was being beaten by Theresa Patterson before the fatal beating on Jan. 7, 1989. Patterson also received a prison sentence of 25 years to life.