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Thread: Martin Martinez Sentenced to 5 Consecutive Life Terms in 2015 CA Multiple Murders

  1. #21
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Modesto capital murder case could be delayed for Martin Martinez

    An April preliminary hearing could be delayed for Martin Martinez, who is accused of killing his girlfriend, Amanda Crews, along with her two daughters, his mother and his niece.

    Martinez appeared briefly in court Tuesday morning.

    Chief Deputy Public Defender Sonny Sandhu, one of Martinez’s court-appointed attorneys, told the judge the defense is continuing to receive evidence collected by the prosecution. So far, the defense has received about 10,000 pages of documents, he said.

    Sandhu told the judge the defense might need more time to review this evidence as more of it is handed over. This could possibly delay the start of the preliminary hearing, which is used to determine whether there’s enough evidence for Martinez to stand trial.

    For now, the hearing remains scheduled to begin April 24. Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Ricardo Córdova will take up the issue again on Feb. 10, when the defendant returns to court. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Martinez.

    The five slayings occurred July 18, 2015, at Crews’ home on Nob Hill Court in east Modesto. In addition to Crews, 38, the victims were her daughters, 6-month-old Rachael and 6-year-old Elizabeth; Martinez’s mother, Anna Brown Romero, 57; and Martinez’s 5-year-old niece, Esmeralda Navarro. Martinez was Rachael’s father.

    In a separate case, Martinez has been ordered to stand trial on charges of murder and child abuse in the Oct. 2, 2014, death of Crews’ 2-year-old son, Christopher Ripley. The trial in Christopher’s death has not been scheduled. That case has been set aside, for now, as the case in the 2015 killings moves forward.

    Martinez has pleaded not guilty to five counts of murder, as well as the charges in the toddler’s death.

    http://www.modbee.com/news/local/cri...#storylink=cpy
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  2. #22
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    August preliminary hearing on track for suspect in Modesto’s Nob Hill Court killings

    By Brian Clark
    The Modesto Bee

    A Modesto man accused of killing five people in a northeast Modesto home nearly two years ago appeared in Stanislaus Superior Court on Monday morning.

    The bespectacled Martin Martinez, 32, in red-and-white jail garb with his slicked black hair down past his shoulders, sat quietly during a five-minute pretrial hearing to confirm both sides were ready for the start of his scheduled Aug. 21 preliminary hearing.

    He is charged with killing his girlfriend, Dr. Amanda Crews, her two daughters, his mother and his niece at Crews’ Nob Hill Court home on July 18, 2015. He’s being held without bail at the Stanislaus County Jail.

    At Monday’s hearing, both sides agreed to meet again on July 24 in Judge Ricardo Cordova’s courtroom to make sure they were ready for next month’s prelim.

    Amanda Crews’ sister, Kim Crews, was at Monday’s hearing, along with other family members of the victims. She politely declined comment before entering the courtroom, conferring with Deputy District Attorney Rick Mury before and after the hearing.

    In addition to the 38-year-old Amanda Crews, the victims were her daughters, 6-month-old Rachael and 6-year-old Elizabeth; Martinez’s mother, Anna Brown Romero, 57; and Martinez’s 5-year-old niece, Esmeralda Navarro. Rachael was Martinez’s daughter with Crews.

    Crews had worked as a doctor in Stanislaus County Health Services Agency clinics in Modesto.

    In a separate case, Martinez will be tried on charges of murder and child abuse in the Oct. 2, 2014, death of Crews’ 2-year-old son, Christopher Ripley. The trial in Christopher’s death has not been scheduled.

    Martinez has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

    http://www.modbee.com/news/local/cri...160535344.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #23
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Modesto death penalty case begins with testimony from slain woman’s parents

    A preliminary hearing for Martin Martinez, who is accused of killing his girlfriend, Amanda Crews, and four others, is expected to begin Monday with testimony from the Modesto woman’s parents.

    The five slayings occurred July 18, 2015, at Crews’ home on Nob Hill Court in east Modesto. In addition to Crews, 38, the victims were her daughters, 6-month-old Rachael and 6-year-old Elizabeth; Martinez’s mother, Anna Brown Romero, 57; and Martinez’s 5-year-old niece, Esmeralda Navarro. Martinez was Rachael’s father.

    Crews’ mother and stepfather are expected to testify in Stanislaus Superior Court Monday. After the parents’ testimony, the hearing is scheduled to continue on Jan. 22.

    Martinez’s court-appointed attorneys on Aug. 2 asked the court to postpone next week’s hearing because they had just received a large amount of discovery evidence from the prosecution. The evidence was handed over in a digital format that is not accessible by the defense or the prosecution.

    “We’re provided such a large amount of data at such a late time before the preliminary hearing starts,” Stanislaus County Public Defender Sonny Sandhu said in court on Aug. 2. “We don’t know whether or not this information is relevant.”

    Deputy District Attorney Rick Mury told the judge that the prosecution has made it clear to the Public Defender’s Office through investigative reports what is contained in the three hard drives with nine terabytes of information.

    Kimberly Crews, Crews’ twin sister, spoke in court, asking the judge not to grant the defense’s postponement request.

    “It is very important to me and my family to move forward with this case in order to aid in our healing,” she told the judge. “Delays make it very difficult and prolong our pain.”

    TESTIMONY CONTINUES NEXT YEAR

    Judge Ricardo Córdova agreed to delay the hearing until Jan. 22, but he will listen to testimony from Crews’ parents on Monday. Her mother’s health concerns make it necessary for her to testify soon, the judge said, and her parents will be called back to the witness stand if there’s any information in the digital data relevant to their testimony.

    The preliminary hearing, which is expected to last a few weeks, will conclude with the judge’s ruling. Córdova will determine whether there’s sufficient evidence for Martinez to stand trial.

    The defendant remains in custody at the Stanislaus County Jail. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Martinez. He has pleaded not guilty to five counts of murder.

    CHILD ABUSE CASE

    In a separate case, Martinez has been ordered to stand trial on charges of murder and child abuse in the Oct. 2, 2014, death of Crews’ 2-year-old son, Christopher Ripley. The trial in Christopher’s death has not been scheduled. That case has been set aside, for now, as the case in the 2015 killings moves forward.

    Crews’ son suffered severe head injuries on Sept. 30, 2014, while alone with Martinez. The toddler died at a Madera children’s hospital after two days on life support. A child abuse expert and pediatrician at the hospital testified that the boy’s brain had suffered severe swelling. Bleeding also was found just outside the brain.

    Police investigators were about two weeks away from arresting Martinez in Christopher’s death when the five other homicides occurred. The defendant was arrested in San Jose, several hours after the five bodies were discovered in the Modesto home.

    Prosecutors believe Martinez killed Crews and his mother with a knife. The criminal complaint in the case includes knife enhancements in the deaths of Crews and Romero. Those enhancements do not appear on the murder charges for the children. Authorities have not said how they died.

    http://www.modbee.com/news/local/cri...#storylink=cpy

  4. #24
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    Prosecutors: Martin Martinez had $2 bill with Amanda Crews’ blood

    BY ROSALIO AHUMADA
    The Modesto Bee

    Amanda Crews, her two daughters, her boyfriend’s mother and his niece were found dead inside her east Modesto home two years ago. Several hours after the discovery of the bodies, authorities arrested her boyfriend, Martin Martinez, in San Jose.

    When Martinez was taken into custody, he had a $2 bill with Crews’ blood, according to prosecutors.

    Martinez has been charged with five counts of murder. His preliminary hearing began in Stanislaus Superior Court Monday morning with testimony from Crews’ mother, Paulette Beidleman, and her stepfather, Ronald Beidleman. They testified about the $2 bills they used to hand out to family members as a tradition.

    Paulette Beidleman handed out $2 bills to her three children when they were kids, including Crews. “When you see this $2 bill, you’ll think of your mama,” she would tell her children.

    On Aug. 2, Chief Deputy District Attorney Annette Rees told the judge that Crews kept her $2 bill inside her wallet, and Martinez was found in San Jose with a $2 bill with his girlfriend’s blood on it. The prosecution plans on introducing DNA evidence that presumably confirms the blood on the $2 bill came from Crews.

    The bodies of the two women and three children were found July 18, 2015, in Crews’ two-story house on Nob Hill Court in Modesto. The victims were Crews, 38, her daughters, 6-month-old Rachael and 6-year-old Elizabeth; Martinez’s mother, Anna Brown Romero, 57; and Martinez’s 5-year-old niece, Esmeralda Navarro. Martinez was Rachael’s father.

    Ronald Beidleman, Crews’ stepfather, testified that he gave $2 bills to his stepdaughter’s children, Elizabeth and Christopher. He had not had a chance to give a $2 bill to Rachel.

    The grandparents remembered Elizabeth as a happy girl who loved being around other children.

    “We would go outside. I was her buddy. We would play hide-and-go-seek,” Ronald Beidleman said about his granddaughter. “It came to an end when she was no longer here.”

    During cross-examination, the Beidlemans said they had not seen the $2 bills since they gave them to Crews and her children.

    Paulette Beidleman said she spoke to her daughter a day before the murders. In the phone call, she said Crews seemed happier than she had been before. She said her daughter had been increasingly unhappy with her situation and the death of her son, Christopher.

    In a separate case, Martinez has been ordered to stand trial on charges of murder and child abuse in the Oct. 2, 2014, death of Crews’ 2-year-old son, Christopher Ripley. The trial in Christopher’s death has not been scheduled. That case has been set aside, for now, as the case in the 2015 killings moves forward.

    Testimony about the DNA analysis in the five slayings will have to wait until early next year. The preliminary hearing, which is expected to last a few weeks, will continue Jan. 22.

    Judge Ricardo Córdova agreed to postpone the hearing, because the prosecution had handed the defense a large amount of evidence that could not be accessed from its digital format. The defense has sent the hard drives to an expert to extract the digital information.

    The preliminary hearing will conclude Córdova determining whether there’s sufficient evidence for Martinez to stand trial.

    The defendant remains in custody at the county jail. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Martinez. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges he faces.

    http://www.modbee.com/news/local/cri...#storylink=cpy

  5. #25
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Martinez due in Court in March

    By The Superior Court of California
    County of Stanislaus

    Case Number
    1490008
    Charges:
    Penal Code §187(A)
    Penal Code §273AB(A)
    Bail Amount:
    $ 5 Million
    Deputy District Attorney:
    Annette Rees
    Defense Attorney(s):
    Sandip Sandhu

    Next Court Date:

    The next court date will be March 21, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. for further hearing to set Jury Trial. The hearing will take place in Department 8 of the Superior Court of California, County of Stanislaus, located at 800 11th Street, First Floor, Modesto, CA. Judge Ricardo Cordova presiding.

    https://www.stanct.org/people-vs-mar...martin-1490008
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #26
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    Hearing postponed for man accused of killing five in Modesto, toddler in abuse case

    By Rosalio Ahumada
    The Modesto Bee

    A preliminary hearing that was scheduled to resume in January has been postponed until May for Martin Martinez, a Modesto man accused of killing his girlfriend, her three children, his mother and his niece.

    Martinez appeared in court Monday morning. He has remained in custody since Amanda Crews, her two daughters, Martinez’s mother and his niece were found dead inside her east Modesto home more than three years ago.

    The 34-year-old man has been charged with five counts of murder. The preliminary hearing in that case began in August 2017 with testimony that indicated that Martinez had a $2 bill with Crews’ blood when he was taken into custody in San Jose.

    In a separate case, Martinez has been ordered to stand trial on charges of murder and child abuse in the Oct. 2, 2014, death of Crews’ 2-year-old son, Christopher Ripley. The trial in Christopher’s death has not been scheduled. That case has been set aside, for now, as the case in the 2015 killings moves forward.

    On July 18, 2015, the bodies of the two women and three children were found July 18, 2015, in Crews’ two-story house on Nob Hill Court in Modesto. The victims were Crews, 38, her daughters, 6-month-old Rachael and 6-year-old Elizabeth; Martinez’s mother, Anna Brown Romero, 57; and Martinez’s 5-year-old niece, Esmeralda Navarro. Martinez was Rachael’s father.

    The hearing to determine whether there’s enough evidence for Martinez to stand trial in the five slayings has been scheduled to continue before but postponed for various reasons. This time, the hearing was postponed because of changes to Martinez’s defense team.

    Former Stanislaus County Public Defender Sonny Sandhu, who was one of Martinez’s two court-appointed defense attorneys, has been appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown as the newest judge in Stanislaus Superior Court.

    Maureen Keller now has replaced Sandhu as the interim county public defender. She was also part of Martinez’s defense team with Sandhu. She’s brought on a Deputy Public Defender to assist in Martinez’s legal defense.

    Chief Deputy District Attorney Annette Rees and Deputy District Attorney Rick Mury are prosecuting Martinez. The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office is seeking the death penalty against Martinez in the five slayings.

    On Monday, Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Ricardo Córdova rescheduled the hearing to resume May 20. The attorneys told the judge the rest of the preliminary hearing is expected to last two to three weeks before Córdova makes a ruling.

    https://www.modbee.com/news/local/cr...222215765.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #27
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Forensic pathologist details grisly manner of death in killing of 5 in Modesto home

    By Rosalio Ahumada
    The Modesto Bee

    When investigators entered a two-story house on Nob Hill Court in east Modesto nearly four years ago, they discovered five bodies and a grisly crime scene.


    Amanda Crews and Anna Brown Romero had been brutally stabbed to death. And 6-month-old Rachael, 6-year-old Elizabeth and 5-year-old Esmeralda Navarro had been suffocated with plastic bags fastened around their necks.


    Stanislaus County forensic pathologist Sung-Ook Baik testified Tuesday that Crews and Romero died from blood loss as a result of multiple stab wounds to their heads, faces, necks and extremities. They also suffered superficial cuts on their hands, consistent with defensive wounds.


    Baik also said during a preliminary hearing for Martin Martinez that the children died from asphyxia.


    Martinez, 34, faces five counts of murder in the deaths of his girlfriend, Crews; her two daughters, Rachel and Elizabeth; his mother, Romero; and his niece, Esmeralda. Testimony resumed this week in a preliminary hearing to determine whether there’s enough evidence for Martinez to stand trial.


    Martinez has remained in custody in Stanislaus County Jail since the five people were found dead inside Crews’ east Modesto home on July 18, 2015.


    In a separate case, Martinez has been ordered to stand trial on charges of murder and child abuse in the Oct. 2, 2014, death of Crews’ 2-year-old son, Christopher Ripley. The trial in Christopher’s death has not been scheduled. That case has been set aside, for now, as the case in the 2015 killings moves forward.

    The preliminary hearing in this case began August 2017 with testimony that indicated that Martinez had a $2 bill with Crews’ blood when he was taken into custody in San Jose.

    Baik conducted autopsies on the five slain over two days. He testified that a stab wound to right side of Crews’ neck cut her jugular vein and trachea.


    On Martinez’s mother, the forensic pathologist found her jugular vein and a carotid artery had been cut from a stab wound.


    On the children, Baik found no visible signs of injuries during an external examination of their bodies.


    Baik found on the three girls evidence of pulmonary edema and cerebral edema, or swelling in their lungs and brains. These are signs of asphyxiation, Baik said.


    Testimony in the hearing was expected to continue Wednesday and could end Thursday afternoon, before Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Ricardo Córdova issues his ruling.


    The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office is seeking the death penalty against Martinez in the five slayings.

    https://www.modbee.com/news/local/cr...230649424.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #28
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    As Modesto doctor, four others were found dead, suspect attended barbecue, testimony says

    By Rosalio Ahumada
    The Modesto Bee

    As police investigated the discovery of the bodies of two women and three children inside an east Modesto home, the man accused in their deaths was at a family barbecue in San Jose.

    Martin Martinez of Modesto had shown up in San Jose unexpectedly, his aunt testified Wednesday in Stanislaus County Superior Court. He was with his father, Jesus Martinez, at the home of his aunt, Rosalie Amezquita.

    Martinez is accused of murder in the deaths of his girlfriend, Amanda Crews, 38; her daughters, 6-month-old Rachael and 6-year-old Elizabeth; Martinez’s mother, Anna Brown Romero, 57; and Martinez’s 5-year-old niece, Esmeralda Navarro. Martinez was Rachael’s father. The women were stabbed to death, while the children were suffocated.

    Amezquita testified during a preliminary hearing for Martinez. She said her brother, Jesus, appeared sad and deep in thought when she first saw him about 6 p.m. on July 18, 2015. The family was in the back yard when Amezquita arrived that day.

    Anthony Amezquita, Martinez’s cousin, testified Wednesday that the defendant and his father arrived at his mother’s San Jose home about 4:30 p.m. They had arranged a family gathering, because his cousin was in town.

    About an hour prior to that, Modesto police officers were called to do a security check at the home in the 2600 block of Nob Hill Court, a few blocks north of Floyd Avenue. When officers arrived, they found the five dead inside.

    At the San Jose barbecue, Rosalie Amezquita said her brother at one point followed her into her house, telling her that they needed to talk.

    “He was crying. He started crying right away,” Amezquita said. “He told me that Marty was going to commit suicide. I asked him why? He said he didn’t know.”

    Eventually, she said, her brother told her that Martin Martinez did something that was going to send him to prison for the rest of his life.

    Amezquita testified that she began crying after hearing what her brother had told her. “Of course, I didn’t want my nephew to commit suicide,” she said. The aunt’s testimony didn’t indicate what her nephew had done that he believed would send him to prison.

    As Rosalie Amezquita was crying with her brother, she saw Martin Martinez walk out of the house and approach her in the front yard. She testified that her nephew hugged her before leaving with his dad in a vehicle.

    “He just told me that everything was going to be okay,” she said about her nephew.

    Martinez was taken into custody later that night as he and his father walked out of a movie theater in San Jose.

    At the time of the July 2015 slayings, police were investigating the death of 2-year-old Christopher Ripley, Crews’ son, and were getting close to arresting Martinez on suspicion of the toddler’s death. Martinez has since been ordered to stand trial on charges of murder and child abuse in Christopher’s Oct. 2, 2014, death. That case has been set aside for now, as the case in the 2015 killings moves forward.

    The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office is seeking the death penalty against Martinez in the five slayings. Testimony was expected to continue Thursday. At the conclusion of the preliminary hearing, the judge will decide whether there is enough evidence for the case to move to trial.

    https://www.modbee.com/news/local/cr...230703304.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  9. #29
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Martin Martinez Of Modesto Gets 5 Consecutive Life Sentences For Killing His Family

    CBS 13 News

    MODESTO (CBS13) – A Modesto man has been sentenced to five consecutive life terms in prison in the 2015 killing of five family members.

    Martin Martinez was charged with murder in the July 2015 deaths of his mother, a five-year-old niece, his girlfriend Amanda Crews, her six-year-old daughter and his own six-month-old daughter with Crews.

    The crimes made Martinez eligible for the death penalty. However, prosecutors arraigned a plea deal where Martinez pleaded guilty to the five murders in exchange for consecutive life sentences.

    Martinez also pleaded guilty to a separate 2014 case where he was charged with manslaughter for the death of Crews’ two-year-old son.

    With the plea deal, Martinez has been sentenced to five consecutive life terms in prison.

    He will not be eligible for parole.

    https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2020...ife-in-prison/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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