WARWICK — Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr. yesterday sentenced Gerardo E. Martinez to life without the possibility of parole for the murder of 23-year-old Lindsay Ann Burke, of North Kingstown, in 2005 — the maximum penalty available in Rhode Island.

Martinez, 29, of 1917 Warwick Ave., Warwick, will go to the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston, convicted on one count of first-degree murder, according to a news release from the state attorney general’s office. He will also serve a five-year concurrent sentence for one count of driving a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent.

After a seven-day trial, the jury deliberated for three hours before returning the guilty verdict on Jan. 26. The jury determined at that time the murder was committed in a manner involving torture and aggravated battery.

Burke’s murder has spawned a bill in the General Assembly. On Tuesday, the House Health, Education and Welfare Committee heard testimony from Burke’s parents on the bill, which would mandate a statewide curriculum in grades 7 through 12 about dating violence, incorporated into the existing health education curriculum. The bill also calls for creating and carrying out a no-tolerance dating violence policy.

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, who was in court for the sentencing, said in the news release: “Lindsay Ann Burke was murdered by a former boyfriend who not only took advantage of her compassionate, trusting, and generous nature but took her life, in a brutally vicious attack. There was no question in our minds that the defendant should receive a sentence of life without parole, and I am grateful that first the jury, and now Judge Darigan, agreed.”

When a Warwick officer met with the Burke’s parents, Ann and Christopher Burke, at Martinez’s home in September 2005, they expressed concern for their daughter’s safety because she had not reported to work that day and had not been heard from. According to the attorney general’s news release yesterday, Burke and Martinez had been in a “tumultuous relationship” for two years.

Later that year, a Kent County grand jury indicted Martinez on one count of murder and one count of driving a stolen car. He was arrested in New Hampshire that year on suspicion of killing his girlfriend in Warwick. He was arrested after he drove into a tree in Canterbury. New Hampshire State Police found a notebook in the car suggesting he had killed his girlfriend in Warwick, a police affidavit said. The police, searching his Warwick home, found Burke lying in a bathtub with her throat slit, according to the police.

“We do believe that the sentence of life without the chance of parole given to Martinez sends a strong message that, here in Rhode Island, we will hold abusers accountable for their acts of violence,” the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence said in a statement. The coalition added: “We hope the vicious murder of Lindsay Burke encourages other victims to reach out for help to escape an abusive relationship.”

mmckinne@projo.com