Judge rejects homicide plea deal in favor of trial
Evidence, along with disputed facts, may point to credible self-defense claim
Joseph Perea’s defense attorney said Wednesday that his client couldn’t see Devon Martinez in the moments before he was crushed to death between Perea’s Camaro and a parked Ford Focus in a poorly lit driveway.
That and other arguments presented by attorney Ahmad Assed during what was supposed to be a sentencing hearing were compelling enough that District Judge Brett Loveless took the unusual step of rejecting the plea agreement that Perea accepted in July, and ruled that the case should instead go to trial.
Under the terms of that agreement, which resolved three cases against him, 22-year-old Perea pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and lesser charges. He faced up to 9½ years in prison.
Many of the details in Assed’s version of events differed from those shared by law enforcement and prosecutors. In the state’s version, Perea was thrown out of a friend’s home near Central and Eubank because he was picking on Martinez. He drove away in his car, a prosecutor said, but turned around, saw Martinez in the driveway and smashed into him hard enough to push the front of the parked Ford into the garage.
But Assed said the attendees of a small party at the Martha NE home that evening had been drinking long before Perea was there. At some point after Perea arrived to pick up his girlfriend, a fight broke out, and Perea’s nose and finger were broken. As he left, Martinez and another person chased Perea
to his car, broke its back window and tried to get him out of the car to beat him up, and “possibly kill him,” Assed said.
After Perea left, he realized his girlfriend was still at the party and went back for her. That’s when he pulled into the driveway and crushed Martinez, who was dressed in dark clothing and crouched behind the Ford. Assed said his client had no idea he’d hurt anyone until his girlfriend received numerous text messages.
Loveless said it was rare to find a case in which the facts were so much in dispute. He said the evidence seemed to constitute a credible self-defense claim.
“The defense has submitted evidence, made a very compelling presentation, that would suggest that he did not commit these crimes,” Loveless said. “I don’t feel comfortable proceeding at this time in the absence of these matters being decided by a jury.”
A conference will take place in coming weeks, at which point Loveless will set a trial date, possibly for December or January, he said.
A spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office would not comment on the ruling. Assed said that he was pleased and that his client has always asserted that there were facts to substantiate his innocence.
The decision shocked Martinez’s family, who filled the state’s half of the courtroom believing this would be the final court hearing in the case.
“I expected him to be in jail today, and then on his way to prison and serving the time that he deserves,” said Martinez’s mother, Melanie Cotter. “Which obviously didn’t happen.”