Misdemeanor Conviction In Diamond Theft Case

For a little more than a week, Courtroom 313 in D.C. Superior Court was adorned with bling: a couple of diamond-studded gold wedding bands, a white-gold bracelet with a 2.5-carat diamond and various uncut stones.

The event was the third time the U.S. attorney's office was trying to send Louis H. Martin, 46, to prison on charges that stemmed from his startling 2006 arrest.

It was then, after he crashed his pickup into a traffic light in Southwest Washington, that police found in his possession a handgun, drugs and $38,000 in diamonds stolen from one of the region's best-known jewelers.

Prosecutors were again doomed to disappointment.

When Martin, of Clinton, was arrested, he was wearing the diamond and gold bracelet and had the two diamond wedding bands sewn into the lining of his jacket, prosecutors said. Martin was also charged with resisting arrest, they said, because at the time of his arrest, he refused to open his hand to be handcuffed because he was holding nine uncut diamonds.

The diamonds, prosecutors said, were from a brazen July 2006 robbery of the Mervis Diamond Importers store in the 1700 block of K Street NW.

According to police, a man walked into the store the morning of July 15 and said he wanted to have a ring appraised. He then pulled a handgun and ordered a Mervis employee to unlock and open the door. Two other men, also brandishing handguns, stormed inside. The three robbers snatched about $1.5 million worth of diamonds and jewelry from the cases, stuffed them into a duffle bag and ran.

After Martin accidentally slammed his black Chevrolet Avalanche into a traffic light at Sixth and E streets SW on Oct. 19, 2006, police said, they found the diamonds and small quantities of heroin in his truck and methadone in his pocket. Witnesses also testified that they saw Martin toss a handgun into bushes near where the accident occurred.

The first two times Martin was prosecuted, charges were dismissed for lack of evidence. This time, Martin, who was on probation at the time of his arrest for a 1997 bank robbery, was charged with 10 counts, including receiving stolen property, possession of an unregistered firearm, resisting arrest and drug possession.

No one has been charged with robbery in the Mervis heist.

"Mr. Martin had a lot to hide," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Ortwein said. "People do not regularly roam the streets with thousands of dollars worth of diamonds in their possession."

Martin's attorney, Brian K. McDaniel, argued that neither the gun, which did not have his client's fingerprints on it, nor the heroin belonged to Martin. McDaniel said there was no proof that Martin knew that the jewelry was stolen.