A teenager was spared prison Monday and given a one-year jail term for ambushing a Gustavus Adolphus College student in a campus parking lot late at night and threatening to shoot her in the head before he stole her car.
Tayvius Sorgatz Martin, 19, of Rochester, was sentenced in Nicollet County District Court after pleading guilty to first-degree carjacking in connection with the brandishing what his victim feared was an assault-style rifle while stealing her car about 2:45 a.m. on Sept. 14, 2024.
Over the objections of the County Attorney’s Office, Judge Paul Gunderson set aside a sentence of slightly more than six years and opted for the year in jail. With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Martin has about 4½ months left to serve.
Martin’s sentence also includes 240 hours of ”sentence to serve,” which often means being part of a supervised work crew, and five years of probation.
Defense attorney Eric Olson argued in a court filing last year for Martin to receive leniency for various reasons, among them a “neglectful, abusive and chaotic” first eight years of life.
James Dunn, chief deputy for the County Attorney’s Office, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that Gunderson also took into account “Mr. Martin’s age and lack of brain development due to his youth, that Mr. Martin was remorseful for his actions, that he was cooperative in court and took responsibility for his actions and that he had strong familial and community supports.”
Martin still has a theft case pending in Olmsted County alleging he stole $540 from the safe of a Circle K gas station in Rochester, where he’s been living in a group home for young people.
His record in juvenile court includes allegations that he smashed in the window of a car in Cottage Grove and drove off, vehicle theft in Stearns County and felony damage to property in Hennepin County.
