By Susan Redden

sredden@joplinglobe.com

A former Carthage man convicted of killings in Carthage and Rolla must stay in prison for at least three more years.

Family members of the victims were notified last week of the results of a parole hearing held in August for John Steven Martin, who was convicted more than 30 years ago of two murders.

Patricia Brigman, Carl Junction, said she was told by state officials on Friday that Martin’s next parole hearing will be in August 2012. Parole board officials could not be reached for comment.

“I’m glad they’re going to keep him,” she said. “They could have set the next hearing at anything from two years to five years out. So it’s better than two, and not as good as five.”

Brigman is the sister of Leroy Spencer, who was killed in October 1974 during a robbery of a Rolla service station.

Martin in April 1976 was assessed a life sentence after he was convicted of Spencer’s death. A year earlier, a life sentence was imposed in Jasper County after Martin was convicted of kidnapping and killing Carthage liquor-store owner James Stemmons, after robbing that business.

Members of both families mounted a campaign to keep Martin behind bars before the August hearing. Several family members spoke at the parole board hearing and others circulated petitions and urged people to write to the parole board.

Brigman admitted she had begun to worry because the decision had taken nearly three months.

“If they had released him, I would worry about the safety of the community,” she said. “He certainly harmed enough people.”

She said the board’s decision gives her and other family members another deadline two and one-half years away.

“We’ll have to start again, doing petitions and writing letters,” she said. “It’s what we have to do to keep him there.”