Also Received 152-Year Sentence for String of Robberies, Weapons Possession
A Hempstead man was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted at trial of six robberies between 2021 and 2022, and a January 2022 attempted robbery in Hempstead in which the defendant shot and killed a 49-year-old man at point-blank range when he tried to intervene in the defendant’s assault of another patron.
On January 30, 2022, at approximately 10:54 p.m., Deshawn Martin entered Antojitos Express on Peninsula Boulevard in Hempstead carrying a loaded firearm and ordered everyone in the restaurant to get on the ground. Martin pistol-whipped a patron, the first victim, several times.
Forty-nine-year-old Santos Valeriano Argueta intervened and pushed Martin out of the storefront. Once outside, Martin shot Argueta three times at close range, striking him in the forearm and head, then putting the barrel of his gun to Argueta’s chest and firing once more.
As Argueta was on the ground, Martin went through the victim’s pockets, stole his cell phone, and fled the scene.
Just days after the shooting, on February 3, 2022, the defendant committed two additional robberies.
At approximately 4:03 a.m., Martin entered a 7-Eleven store at 333 Oak Street in Uniondale displaying a firearm. He then robbed the store at gunpoint and fled. Hours later, at 7:19 p.m., Martin entered a Dunkin Donuts at 467 Old Country Road in Westbury and again, with a firearm displayed, robbed the store.
Martin was also convicted of three October 2021 robberies he committed.
On October 22, 2021, Martin drove to a Subway store at 1341 Jerusalem Avenue in Merrick. Martin entered the store with a paper bag covering his right hand, indicated he had a gun and demanded money. Martin stole cash and fled the scene.
The next day, on October 23, 2021, Martin drove to a Dunkin Donuts store at 432 Jerusalem Avenue in Hicksville. Martin entered the store again with a paper bag covering his right hand and demanded money from the store workers. Martin stole approximately $1,315 and fled the scene.
On October 26, 2021, Martin drove into the rear parking lot of 150 Sunnyside Boulevard in Plainview. Martin exited the vehicle and entered a 7-Eleven across the parking lot, wearing a bandana with a paper bag covering his right hand, indicated he had a gun, and demanded money from the store workers. Martin stole approximately $200 and fled the store.
Martin, 28, was arrested on February 9, 2022, in Freeport by detectives of the NCPD’s Homicide Squad and Bureau of Special Operations. On June 4, 2025, he was convicted after a jury trial before Judge Terence Murphy of Murder in the First Degree (a Class A-I felony); six counts of Robbery in the First Degree and four counts of Criminal Use of a Firearm in the First Degree (all Class B violent felonies); three counts of Robbery in the Second Degree, Attempted Robbery in the First Degree and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree (all Class C violent felonies); Assault in the Second Degree (a Class D violent felony); and Menacing in the Second Degree (a Class A misdemeanor).
Martin was sentenced on July 30, 2025, to life in prison without possibility of parole on the Murder in the First Degree conviction, as well as a total of 152 consecutive years of incarceration on the 18 other counts of which the jury found him guilty.
“No words of solace can ever ease the pain of losing a loved one, especially one who tried to do the right thing, even while staring down the barrel of a gun,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “Deshawn Martin’s life of crime speaks for itself, dating back many years and through multiple jurisdictions. This sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole puts him exactly where he belongs, in a cold jail cell and far-removed from society, where he’ll no longer be able to put the lives of innocent people at risk.”