Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 21

Thread: Fabian Gonzales and Jessica Kelley Sentenced in 2016 Slaying of 10-Year-Old Victoria Martens

  1. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    478
    Without plea deal, DA believes Victoria Martens case is hampered

    By Marian Camacho
    kob.com

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A judge has rejected a motion to reconsider a plea deal for Jessica Kelley, a prime suspect in the murder of 10-year-old Victoria Martens.

    Jessica Kelley was in court Tuesday morning as prosecutors asked the court to reconsider her plea deal that would allow her to testify against the other defendants in the case including her cousin, Fabian Gonzales, who is charged with various crimes including child abuse resulting in death.

    That request was denied by District Court Judge Charles Brown.

    Judge Brown had already rejected the deal earlier this month saying prosecutors didn't effectively make their case after asking Kelley about the night of the murder.

    According to Kelley, she let an unknown man inside the apartment who was looking for Gonzales. She says that man then killed Victoria as gang retaliation against Gonzales.

    Judge Brown said that wasn't enough for the charge of child abuse resulting in death because Kelley did not know what was going to happen.

    Prosecutors will not be able to use any of Kelley's testimony against Gonzales.

    "That dramatically impacts our ability to secure that conviction and presents significant challenges to the presentation of evidence," said Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez.

    Gonzales' trial is set to begin in October and Kelley's trial is slated for January.

    The prime murder suspect has not been identified or arrested for Victoria's murder.

    "The presence of male DNA on her body, in specific locations, including around her neck suggests that whoever this unknown assailant was, bears primary responsibility for that death."

    https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news...aring/5083645/

  2. #12
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    478
    Trial for Fabian Gonzales postponed

    By Kai Porter
    kob.com

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The trial for one of the suspects charged in the child abuse death of 10-year-old Victoria Martens is now on hold.

    Fabian Gonzales’ trial was scheduled to start Oct. 15.

    However, Judge Charles Brown canceled Gonzales' trial date during what should have been a routine status hearing.

    Brown made the decision after prosecutors said they wanted the New Mexico Court of Appeals to decide if certain evidence the judge banned from the trial should actually be allowed.

    The evidence includes statements made by Gonzales' cousin, Jessica Kelley, who is also charged in connection with Victoria’s death.

    "She made some statements that implicated herself and this defendant,” said deputy district attorney Greer Rose. “We feel those statements are key in showing this defendant's role in the murder of Victoria."

    Prosecutors are also hoping the court of appeals will reverse Judge Brown's decision to not allow evidence about Gonzales' drug use during the trial.

    "It wasn't just his past drug use,” said Rose. “It was evidence of drug use right around the time of the murder. We feel like that's important to show the overall picture of what's going on."

    There's no timeline for when the court of appeals will make a decision.

    Once it does, Judge Brown will set a new trial date.

    In response, the defense has filed a demand for a speedy trial.

    The defense claims the state's appeal was filed to delay the trial and gain a strategic advantage.

    https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news...poned/5087230/

  3. #13
    Senior Member CnCP Addict maybeacomedian's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    IL
    Posts
    657
    Jury will see photos of Victoria Martens' body

    By Olivier Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal, N.M. | December 17, 2021

    Dec. 17—A judge will allow jurors to view dozens of photos of 10-year-old Victoria Martens' burned and dismembered body when a trial begins next month for a man charged in connection with her 2016 death.

    Attorneys at a hearing Thursday sparred over the large number and graphic nature of the photos that prosecutors plan to introduce as evidence in the trial of Fabian Gonzales.

    Gonzales, 37, is charged with reckless abuse of a child resulting in death, eight counts of tampering with evidence and one count of conspiracy in connection with Victoria's strangulation death.

    Prosecutors allege Gonzales had ties to a violent Albuquerque gang and put Victoria in a "dangerous environment" by using and selling methamphetamine at the Martens' apartment, according to court records.

    The danger increased after a woman at a barbecue "beat up Gonzales," leading to an escalating conflict that ultimately led to a stranger entering the apartment and killing Victoria, prosecutors allege.

    The 2nd Judicial District Court trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 3 in Albuquerque.

    Gonzales' attorney, Stephen Aarons, argued that showing a large number of the gruesome photos at Gonzales' trial would prejudice the jury against him.

    "These would upset any normal human being," Aarons said of the photos, which he called "highly inflammatory."

    "It's clear that somebody tampered with the body and this doesn't help the jury figure out who," Aarons said. "The question is, 'Who did this?'"

    Prosecutors offered about 60 photos of the girl taken by the Office of the Medical Investigator. They include photos of the contents of a bag containing Victoria's dismembered arms, her heart and other organs, in addition to deep cuts, burns and other injuries on the girl's body.

    "We're going to lose the jury," Aarons said. "They are not going to be able to base their opinion on evidence."

    Deputy District Attorney Greer Rose said she agrees that the photos are inflammatory, but argued that it is necessary for jurors to view them.

    The photos are "highly relevant" because the tampering charges allege that Gonzales dismembered Victoria's arms and removed her organs, Rose said.

    "The jury needs to understand exactly what happened to her," she said.

    Investigators also found male DNA under Victoria's fingernails on both her hands from "scratching at a male," Rose said. Prosecutors must show jurors photos of the girl's hands to put the DNA evidence into context, Rose said.

    Judge Cindy Leos said she will allow jurors to view dozens of the photos of Victoria's remains. Leos excluded several photos that Aarons argued duplicated others.

    "This is going to be tough for the jury to see," Leos said of the photos. "I recognize that it is going to be difficult for the jury, but it is relevant. The state will still have to prove that tampering took place."

    The photos also demonstrate the enormous effort spent trying to conceal Victoria's killing, Leos said.

    The OMI photos are only a portion of the evidence defense and prosecution attorneys presented at the hearing, held to determine what evidence can be presented to jurors.

    Other evidence includes screenshots from Gonzales' Facebook page, text messages, cellphone records and crime scene photos of the Albuquerque apartment where the girl was killed.

    Leos excluded a Facebook profile of Gonzales that showed him wearing a mask and holding a gun.

    Aarons argued, and Leos agreed, that the photo was prejudicial because Gonzales is not charged with murder in Victoria's death, and no gun was involved in the killing.

    Rose said prosecutors intend to show that Gonzales helped create a "dangerous environment" for Victoria in the days and weeks before she was killed.

    Gonzales is the last of three defendants facing charges in connection with the death of Victoria, whose burning body was found by Albuquerque police in a West Side apartment complex in August 2016.

    Two other defendants, Jessica Kelley and Michelle Martens, Victoria's mother, have accepted plea deals and are scheduled for sentencing in February.

    Kelley pleaded no contest to child abuse recklessly caused resulting in death, tampering with evidence and aggravated assault. She faces 50 years in prison.

    Michelle Martens pleaded guilty to child abuse recklessly caused resulting in death. Her plea deal calls for her to serve 12 to 15 years in prison.

    Gonzales originally was charged with murder, criminal sexual penetration of a minor and other charges.

    But the case was upended in June 2018 when District Attorney Raúl Torrez announced that Gonzales and Michelle Martens were not in the apartment at the time Victoria was killed. The murder charge against Gonzales was based on a false confession by Michelle Martens and was "simply not true," Torrez said.

    Prosecutors also indicted "John Doe" for first-degree murder and other charges based on DNA evidence found on Victoria's back. John Doe remains unidentified.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/jury-see-...150900178.html
    https://archive.md/0PiBY

  4. #14
    Senior Member CnCP Legend
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Posts
    2,243
    First defendant sentenced in gruesome death of Victoria Martens

    By Olivier Uyttebrouck and Elise Kaplan
    Albuquerque Journal

    Nearly six years after the death and dismemberment of 10-year-old Victoria Martens, a judge has sentenced the first of three people charged in the girl’s 2016 killing.

    Jessica Kelley, 37, was sentenced on Thursday to 44 years in prison for her role in one of the city’s most high-profile crimes.

    Kelley pleaded no contest in January 2019 to six felony crimes, including reckless child abuse resulting in the death of a child under 12.

    A plea of “no contest” means that Kelley is not admitting guilt, but she is not contesting the state’s version of events.

    Second Judicial District Court Judge Cindy Leos sentenced Kelley to 50 years in prison with six years suspended, followed by five years probation.

    Victoria Martens’ grandparents, John and Pat Martens, urged the judge to hand Kelley the maximum sentence. Pat Martens held a carved wooden box containing Victoria’s cremated remains.

    “This is what’s left, a wooden box of her ashes,” John Martens told the judge as Pat Martens held up the box.

    Kelley had agreed to babysit Victoria the day the girl was killed, John Martens said during the video hearing. “Instead, she decided to get high and participate in the brutal murder of Victoria,” then conceal the crime by dismembering and burning her body in a bathtub, he said.

    “This is one evil person that does not belong on the street, or even on this earth,” Martens said.

    Prosecutors have said that Kelley was “tweaking” and experiencing paranoid delusions from methamphetamine the day Victoria was killed on Aug. 23, 2016. Kelley had agreed to take care of Victoria while the girl’s mother, Michelle Martens, and Fabian Gonzales – Martens’ then-boyfriend and Kelley’s cousin – went out.

    Prosecutors say an unknown man seeking revenge against Gonzales arrived at the apartment, according to the factual basis included in the plea agreement.

    The man asked for Gonzales, then went to Victoria’s room and strangled the girl.

    Prosecutors said Kelley “knew or should have known that the man posed a substantial and unjustifiable risk of harm” to the girl and that Kelley should have tried to stop him.

    Prosecutors contend Kelley and Gonzales dismembered the girl in order to dispose of her body.

    Kelley also pleaded no contest to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for striking Michelle Martens with an iron and tampering with evidence for dismembering Victoria.

    Martens, now 40, pleaded guilty in June 2018 to child abuse recklessly caused resulting in death in her daughter’s death and faces 18 years in prison. No sentencing hearing has been scheduled.

    Gonzales, 37, is charged with child abuse resulting in death and tampering with evidence. His trial is scheduled for July.

    Kelley declined to speak at her sentencing hearing Thursday. Her attorney, Mark Earnest, said Kelley declined to speak because she has agreed to testify in Gonzales’ trial.

    “Given the nature of the case, and the fact that (Kelley) still has obligations under the plea agreement, she would like to reserve her right to address the court and interested others until after Mr. Gonzales’ trial,” Earnest said.

    Immediately after the gruesome crime, police charged all three suspects with murder and said they had injected Victoria with methamphetamine, raped her and strangled and stabbed her to death. An autopsy report found no meth in Victoria’s system.

    Almost two years after the homicide, 2nd Judicial District Attorney Raúl Torrez revealed that investigators determined that Martens’ confession had been false and “contaminated” by the detectives interviewing her. Most of what was reported about the crime had been derived from Martens’ statements.

    Instead, Torrez said a partial DNA sample was found on Victoria’s back, leading them to believe another person was there. An indictment has been filed against that person, called “John Doe.” The murder and rape charges against Martens and Gonzales were dropped. Six months later, in early 2019, Kelley pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death. Her lawyer said experts determined there is no evidence Victoria was raped the night she was killed and prosecutors dropped that charge against Kelley.

    https://www.abqjournal.com/2493907/k...6-killing.html

  5. #15
    Senior Member CnCP Legend
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Posts
    2,243
    Man convicted in death and dismemberment of New Mexico girl

    AP

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A man was convicted Monday in the 2016 death of an Albuquerque girl who was strangled, dismembered and set on fire in the bathtub of her mother’s apartment on her 10th birthday.

    The jury deliberated less than four hours before returning with guilty verdicts on all charges Fabian Gonzales faced in the death of Victoria Martens. He was charged with reckless child abuse resulting in death, tampering with evidence and conspiracy to tamper with evidence.

    Prosecutors said Gonzales faces up to 43 1/2 years in prison when he is sentenced.

    Gonzales, now 37, had moved into the girl’s mother’s apartment a month before the girl’s death on Aug. 23, 2016. Prosecutors during the trial argued that although Gonzales didn’t kill Victoria, he set in motion a series of events that created a dangerous environment that ultimately led to the girl’s death.

    Gonzales was also accused of helping his cousin, Jessica Kelley, dismember the girl, set her remains on fire and clean the crime scene in an attempt to conceal the death.

    Kelley, 37, testified that she was high on methamphetamine at the time. She reached a plea agreement with prosecutors on charges that included reckless child abuse resulting in death in exchange for testifying at Gonzales’ trial. She was sentenced earlier this year to 44 years in prison.

    The girl’s mother, Michelle Martens, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of intentional child abuse resulting in death in a 2018 plea agreement. Her sentencing was delayed until the conclusion of Gonzales’ trial and prosecutors have said she is expected to get 12 to 15 years in prison.

    During the investigation, police determined that Martens and Gonzales were not home when Victoria was killed and arrived later that night.

    Defense lawyers tried but failed to convince jurors that Kelley was solely responsible for the girl’s death and dismemberment. Gonzales had allowed Kelley to stay at the Martens’ apartment shortly after Kelley was released from prison.

    “I would tell you, this is not a complicated case, it’s actually fairly easy to solve. But emotion can overwhelm that,” Stephen Aarons, Gonzales’ attorney, said in his closing argument. “There is an urge to flush anyone and everyone remotely connected down the toilet.”

    Aarons said the verdict will be appealed.

    Gonzales tested positive for COVID-19 last week and appeared virtually at his trial for two days.

    He returned Monday to hear the verdict from a plexiglass box inside the courtroom.

    https://apnews.com/article/fires-alb...40acb613831338

  6. #16
    Senior Member Frequent Poster stixfix69's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    377
    Why he doesn't get the death penalty is beyond me....

  7. #17
    Senior Member CnCP Legend
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Posts
    2,243
    Fabian Gonzales sentenced to 37.5 years for role in Victoria Martens death

    By Isaac Cruz, Allison Giron, and Stephanie Chavez
    KRQE

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Fabian Gonzales has been sentenced to 37.5 years behind bars, the maximum sentence, for his role in the death of Victoria Martens. The sentence came after an emotional day in court and eight years after the crime.

    The sentence, 37.5 years, is for allowing Victoria’s death to happen, dismembering the body, and trying to cover up the crime. But, with good time, Gonzales might only have to serve half of that sentence.

    Thursday, Judge Cindy Leos ruled that two of the tampering charges might present double jeopardy, so she combined those into one sentence to avoid legal issues, which resulted in 37.5 years. With good time and nearly four years of credit time served, Gonzales could be out in 17 years.

    Gonzales was convicted of reckless child abuse resulting in death for putting Victoria in a position that caused her death in a northwest Albuquerque apartment on August 23, 2016. His cousin, Jessica Kelley, and Victoria’s mother, Michelle Martens, also participated.

    Thursday morning in court, the state asked Judge Cindy Leos to classify the child abuse charge as a serious violent offense saying without Fabian, Victoria would still be alive today. That destination would ensure that he has to serve at least 85% of that sentence instead of 50%.

    Judge Cindy Leos also felt the state failed to meet the burden of proof that Gonzales acted violently, pointing to the fact that he was not in the apartment at the time of the murder.

    Thursday, Judge Cindy Leos also heard from Victoria’s grandfather. “We no longer hear her say papa I love you. Nana, I love you. We won’t hear papa, nana can you take me to gymnastics or papa I’m 16, can you teach me to drive? How about graduation? There will be none. Or most of all… papa can you walk me down the isle? So you’re honor, we ask that you impose the max sentence because Victoria will not get the max out of her life that she should have been entitled to,” said John Martens, Victoria’s grandfather.

    Gonzales’s attorney argued that he has turned his life around and deserved a lesser sentence. They also asked that he get credit for time served while on an ankle monitor. However, the judge denied that request. Judge Cindy Leos said his life on that monitor was not restrictive enough to meet the pre-sentence confinement requirement.

    Jessica Kelley has already been sentenced to 44 years in prison for her involvement in the case.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.krq...a-martens/amp/
    Last edited by Steven; 10-27-2022 at 04:31 PM.

  8. #18
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    These two monsters didn't even get LWOP.

    Gonzales’s attorneys don’t believe the judge should consider this a serious violent offense.

    Unbelievable..
    "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. #19
    Senior Member CnCP Addict maybeacomedian's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    IL
    Posts
    657
    Quote Originally Posted by Helen View Post
    These two monsters didn't even get LWOP.

    Gonzales’s attorneys don’t believe the judge should consider this a serious violent offense.

    Unbelievable..
    Bravo, New Mexico.

  10. #20
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,316
    I remember back in 2016 NM governor Susana Martinez introduced a bill to reinstate the death penalty. It passed in the NM HoR but then the democrats in the NM Senate killed it
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •