Prosecutors ask judge to rethink plea rejection
Motion argues evidence indicates role in killing
When a strange man walked into the apartment while she was baby-sitting Victoria Martens, Jessica Kelley didn’t ask who he was, why he was there or why he was going into the child’s room, prosecutors say in a new court filing.
“The man was with Victoria long enough to rape and murder her without (Kelley) doing anything to intervene and despite (Kelley) being in the small apartment during the commission of the crime,” prosecutor Greer Rose wrote.
Rose detailed Kelley’s involvement in the death of 10-year-old Martens in a motion asking state District Judge Charles Brown to reconsider his surprising decision last week to reject her plea deal.
Under the agreement, Kelley would have pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death and five other charges. She faced 49½ years in prison and would be required to testify at codefendant Fabian Gonzales’ coming trial, and to provide information to the state about the unidentified man.
Brown said he had not been offered sufficient proof that Kelley was guilty of child abuse resulting in death, and in a 12-page motion Tuesday, prosecutors laid out additional facts that they say point to her guilt. Kelley’s attorney, Mark Earnest, could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
“As Victoria’s caretaker it was incumbent upon (Kelley) to determine whether any visitor to the apartment had a lawful or hostile agenda,” Rose wrote. She added that Kelley was high on methamphetamine at the time and that her impaired judgment contributed to the situation.
Kelley has also admitted that she and Gonzales, her cousin, worked together to hide the crime, dismembering the girl’s body and setting it on fire. Rose argues that tampering with evidence shows “a consciousness of guilt.”
“A jury could reasonably infer that (Kelley) would not have gone to the extreme of mutilating a child’s body unless she understood that she was responsible for the crime,” Rose wrote.
In an interview Tuesday, District Attorney Raúl Torrez said the rejection jeopardizes the state’s case against Gonzales and precludes prosecutors from further investigating the identity of the mystery suspect.
“(Kelley’s) further cooperation is frankly the only way at this point to help law enforcement identify who this person is,” Torrez said.
Prosecutors also filed a handful of documents in Gonzales’ case Tuesday. In one, they say they plan to tell jurors about Gonzales’ affiliation with the Thugs Causing Kaos gang.
Rose said in one document that Gonzales contacted fellow TCK members after an altercation at a barbecue days before Victoria’s death and that the boyfriend of a pregnant woman he fought also “called several associates.” A fight broke out after the woman asked Gonzales to leave her home because she claimed he had stolen from her in the past.
“The disrespect and threats from Gonzales set into motion the events that led to the homicide of Victoria Martens,” Rose wrote.