George Washington Martin, Jr. (June 25, 1876 – November 21, 1948) was a prominent lawyer, jurist, and member of the Democratic Party in Kings County, Brooklyn, New York.

He was a controversial figure in the history of New York City law in the 1930s when the judiciary and police force of Brooklyn were investigated for corrupt activities.

Jonas and Marion raised a son, George Washington Martin, Sr. (1847–1910), who was trained in engineering, rose to prominence in the commercial enterprise known as the Produce Exchange and served as Brooklyn's Superintendent of Street Repairs in the Department of City Works.

At that time Macdonough Street was designated as belonging to that exclusive part of Brooklyn known as Stuyvesant Heights, that featured brownstone townhouses.

The duo were the first stars of the stage to act as "black and white" minstrels, "black-face comedy", and were credited with introducing tap-dancing to Broadway.

Cases that were presented before him ranged from robbery, assaults and extortion perpetrated by young offenders through to major murder trials involving gangs.

Throughout much of Martin's life he wasted much of his salary in excessive spending, regularly gambled on horse races, and was often the victim of his own poor judgment in risky business investments.

He obtained stock in Filmland Incorporated and in the Bayside Amusement Company, and these two organizations had ostensibly earmarked property for the development of a theater complex on Long Island.

Martin's financial problems were further compounded by two household mortgages, general living expenses, and medical costs associated with the treatment of his granddaughter Audrey's heart disease.

However, in May 1931 the Supreme Court Justice Faber directed that Martin and his business partner had to repay the sum of twenty-four thousand dollars to a defunct company.

In the late 1930s John Harlan Amen was appointed as a special assistant Attorney General to investigate corruption among both the Brooklyn police and judiciary.

Amen was the son-in-law of the former President Grover Cleveland and later in life served as a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals.

During that investigation into judicial corruption Amen examined the trial of Dr Louis Duke who was charged with practicing illegal abortions.

Under the provisions of Section 6, Article 9 of the New York state constitution the senate was empowered to remove a judicial officer after a two-thirds vote majority is obtained.

The charges laid against Martin included that he had corruptly used his office to receive gifts of money from attorneys who appeared in cases before him, and that he had serious defects of character rendering him unfit to serve on the bench.

His personal relationships with court officers and lawyers who had been found guilty of bribery were also examined, as was his friendship with the notorious underworld "slot machine king" Leo P. Byk.

The entire proceedings of the senate hearings, together with the written evidences presented against Martin, amounted to over 1,700 pages, which were subsequently bound in book form in 1959 and deposited on file in the law library of Yale University.