Murder suspect rejects attorney, gives thumbs-up
Woman accused of killing her husband and four of her kids rejects getting lawyer
Isabel Martinez, the woman in Georgia charged with killing four of her children and her husband, smiles and flashes a double thumbsup in her first court appearance, where she tells the judge she didn’t want an attorney.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — A woman charged with killing four ofheryoungchildrenandherhusband smiled and flashed a double thumbs up to news cameras during her first court appearance Friday in metro Atlanta before telling ajudgeshedidn’twantanattorney.
Also, an immigration official said the woman, who is from Mexico, entered the U.S. illegally.
Isabel Martinez, 33, appeared before Gwinnett County Magistrate Court Judge Michael Thorpe a day after police said she stabbed the five to death and seriously injured another child at her home. The surviving 9-year-old girl remained hospitalized with serious injuries.
Before the hearing began, Martinez sat with other inmates and posed for cameras — smiling, giving the thumbs-up, putting her hands in a prayer position and spreading her arms out wide.
As Thorpe listed the charges — five counts of malice murder, five counts of murder and six counts of aggravated assault — Martinez smiled, shook her head “no” and wagged her finger at him.
“Ma’am, I’m going to caution you to cut out the display for the cameras,” he said. “It’s really not a good idea, probably not to your benefit.”
In the U.S. illegally
When Thorpe said she had a right to an attorney, she replied through a Spanish-language interpreter that she doesn’t want one. She later added that her attorney will always be the people “that we’re fighting for” and her faith.
“You are the hope of the world, each one of you,” she said in Spanish, appearing to address the news cameras. “It doesn’t matter what color you are because God loves us all.”
Thorpe advised Martinez to hire a lawyer or allow one to be appointed.
Meanwhile, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox said in an email Friday that Martinez — whom he identified as Maria Isabel Garduno-Martinez — is from Mexico and entered the U.S. illegally. This is her first encounter with immigration authorities, and it’snotclearhowlongshehasbeen in the U.S., Cox said.
Localofficialscalledthekillings “horrendous.”
“Whatpromptsapersontotake the life of such innocent children and her spouse is something we mayneverunderstand,”Gwinnett County police said in a statement.
The four children killed were identified as Isabela Martinez, 10; Dacota Romero, 7; Dillan Romero, 4; and Axel Romero, 2. Their slain father was Martin Romero, 33, Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Michele Pihera said.
Not that uncommon
Psychologists and others who studycasesofmotherskillingtheir children say it’s not as uncommon as people might believe. But media coverageoftenfocusesondramatic cases, such as Andrea Yates, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the 2001 drowning deaths of her five children in her ClearLakehomeoutsideHouston.
Other cases get less attention, as when a woman kills a newborn or in children’s deaths blamed on neglect, said Cheryl Meyer, a psychology professor at Wright State University in Ohio and co-author oftwobooksonmotherswhohave killed children based on about 1,000 cases during the 1990s.
In cases when mothers kill intentionally, Meyer said there is often another influence, such as mental health issues or the loss of a close loved one.
“We like to classify these women as pariahs, that they aren’t at all like us,” Meyer said. “I found that was not the case.”