A former top aide to Pittsburgh City Controller Tom Flaherty will be re-sentenced for dealing cocaine out of his city hall office.

The state Supreme Court last week refused to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling that former fugitive Gilbert Martinez's original sentence was too lenient.

"I'm disappointed the Supreme Court wouldn't hear this case," Martinez's attorney, Patrick Thomassey, said Monday.

A one-time political muscle-man, Martinez, 62, of Brookline, was arrested at his desk in the City-County Building in November 2001 following a three-month sting during which he sold more than $5,000 worth of cocaine to undercover agents. Officers said they found $9,000 in his desk.

After going on the lam for six months, Martinez eventually pleaded guilty in February 2004 to six counts each of cocaine delivery, possession with the intent to deliver and possession.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel sentenced Martinez to three to six years in prison. But she did not sentence Martinez to additional time for being a fugitive.

The judge had said that although the case generated public outrage over Martinez's drug-dealing and his six-month flight from prosecution, there was no evidence Martinez used his government job improperly beyond his drug venture.

District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. appealed the sentence, arguing Martinez should have gotten five-year mandatory sentences for each count.

The state Superior Court agreed in June, but Martinez's lawyer asked the Supreme Court to hear an appeal. McDaniel was not available for comment yesterday.

A new sentencing hearing has not been scheduled. Martinez remains in the State Correctional Institution at Somerset.

David Conti can be reached at dconti@tribweb.com or (412) 391-0927.

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