Jeremy Cole, 21, was killed on September 27, 2012, during an attempted robbery at a home on Oak Circle SW in Warren, Ohio. The attack also left 30-year-old Melissa Putnam shot in the head; she survived her injuries. The killing was described as execution-style.

David Martin, 40, was arrested in connection with the incident and later convicted of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, and tampering with evidence. While awaiting trial he and two other inmates took a corrections officer hostage at the Trumbull County jail in April 2014. Martin remains on death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown.

The case has produced repeated legal challenges, including a March 2022 petition to vacate the death sentence that raised claims of trial error, ineffective counsel and alleged intellectual disability; that petition was dismissed by Judge Andrew D. Logan in December 2023 and the appeal was upheld by the Ohio 11th District Court of Appeals in January 2025.