Page 4 of 4 FirstFirst ... 234
Results 31 to 32 of 32

Thread: Wilbur Ernesto Martinez-Guzman Sentenced to LWOP in 2019 NV Multiple Murders

  1. #31
    Senior Member CnCP Legend
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Posts
    2,243
    March 3, 2022

    'Heartless monster': Martinez-Guzman gets 2 more life sentences

    By Siobhan McAndrew
    Reno Gazette Journal

    Wilber Ernesto Martinez-Guzman received two more life sentences without the possibility of parole for the murders of two women in Gardnerville in a Douglas County Courtroom on Thursday.

    It was the second of three sentencing hearings this week for Martinez-Guzman, 23, who pleaded guilty in deals to avoid two death penalty trials for the murder of four people in January 2019.

    An immigrant from El Salvador, Martinez-Guzman was 20 when he was arrested after a multi-agency law enforcement effort spanning three counties.

    During the sentencing hearing on Thursday for the murders of Connie Koontz and Sophia Renken, Douglas County District Attorney Mark Jackson called Martinez-Guzman a serial killer who terrified Northern Nevada in 2019.

    On Monday, Martinez-Guzman, who immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador as a teenager, was sentenced in Washoe County to two consecutive lifetimes in prison without the possibility of parole, and as many as 90 years in prison for the murder and burglary of Reno couple Gerald and Sharon David.

    He will be sentenced in Carson City on Friday on burglary charges.

    In court Thursday, Jackson said any defense that Martinez-Guzman may have killed people for money for drugs and to pay off his car didn't tell the whole story.

    "This case is about him getting a thrill out of committing burglaries and killing," Jackson said.

    The families of Koontz and Renken also testified before sentencing.

    Both families described the women as the kind of people who would have invited Martinez-Guzman into their homes and would have helped him if he had asked.

    Some of the most powerful and heart-wrenching testimony came from Koontz's daughter, Madison Koontz-Winkelman.

    She called her mother's murder her worst nightmare. She said a day doesn't go by that she doesn't think about her mother.

    "All I remember is falling to the ground and letting out a scream of pure pain," Koontz-Winkelman said of being told at work on Jan. 10 that her mother was dead.

    "But you Martinez-Guzman, a heartless monster, a coward. You took her away from me," she said looking at Martinez-Guzman.

    He kept his head down.

    "I want you to look into my eyes and be reminded that you're the reason she can't look into my eyes anymore,” she said while sobbing.

    “I will never forgive you. I hate you."

    Over a sentencing hearing that lasted most of the day, Jackson showed that Martinez-Guzman stole items from Koontz that were only of sentimental value including trinkets from trips with her daughter to Disneyland. He also took a concert stub from an Eagles concert she attended with her daughter.

    Martinez-Guzman later sold 33 pieces of Koontz's jewelry at a pawn shop for $1 a piece.

    At the home of the second victim, Renken, who tried to flee when she found Martinez-Guzman in her house in the early hours of Jan. 13, 2019, he shot her in the back.

    Martinez-Guzman left before stealing any of her belongings.

    Jackson also presented evidence that he sold fishing poles and a ring from the Davids that he later pawned for a total of $146.

    That combined with the jewelry from Koontz totaled $179.

    "That's less than $44 a life," Jackson said.

    It ended up being the Apple watch he stole from Koontz that led to his arrest after his mother used the watch to log on to her own online account. The Douglas County Sheriff's department was able to trace it by getting court orders for the Apple accounts.

    https://rgj.com/story/news/2022/03/0...le/9360352002/

  2. #32
    Senior Member CnCP Legend
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Posts
    2,243
    March 4, 2022

    Carson City judge adds 54 years to Guzman’s prison sentences

    By Geoff Dornan
    Nevada Appeal

    Carson District Judge James Wilson on Friday sentenced Wilber Martinez-Guzman to up to 54 years on top of the multiple life sentences he received in Washoe and Douglas County this week.

    He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without possible parole in Washoe County on Monday for the murders of Gerold and Sharon David in January 2019. He was sentenced to two more life terms in Douglas County on Thursday for the murders of Connie Koontz and Sophia Renken just days before the Davids were shot with the same stolen revolver.

    All those sentences were made consecutive to each other.

    The Carson City sentencing took just over 30 minutes because DA Jason Woodbury said that, after the extensive and emotionally exhausting testimony in Washoe and Douglas counties, the dozen or so family members did not want to testify in Carson on Friday. He said after the hearing that they had been through enough this week.

    Guzman confirmed to the judge that he knows his rights and also declined to make a statement before sentencing.

    “It’s not possible to understand the sinister nature of the conduct that occurred here without commenting on the conduct in Douglas County and Washoe,” Woodbury told Wilson.

    He said Guzman initially burglarized outbuildings at David property.

    But, “he learned the stuff in the outbuildings was only going to get you so far. If he wanted the good stuff, the valuable stuff, the stuff people treasure, you had to go into the house.”

    Woodbury said at the David home, Guzman, “spent hours, three and a half hours ransacking their house.”

    He said Guzman killed Koontz by shooting her and then stealing jewelry, a computer and Apple watch among other items. He followed that a couple of days later by entering the Renken home and shooting her multiple times.

    The next day, he entered the Davids’ south Reno home, first shooting Sherri David before shooting Jerald David.

    Woodbury said there was no reason for the killings.

    “There was no other reason than he had a car he couldn’t afford and was doing drugs he shouldn’t have taken,” he said.

    In Carson City on Friday, Wilson said he would follow the plea agreement worked out by the prosecution and defense along with the families of the victims specifying the maximum 4-10-year sentences on three counts of burglary, the maximum 2-5-year sentences on each of four counts of possession of stolen property and the 19-48 months maximum on one count of a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.

    All those sentences are consecutive to the murder sentences and to each other. That means on just the Carson City crimes, Guzman would have to serve a minimum of 21 years and up to 54 years in prison.

    https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/20...ns-prison-sen/

Page 4 of 4 FirstFirst ... 234

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
  •