Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Ruling sets up Reno trial for immigrant accused of killing four
RENO — A judge has cleared the way for a Salvadoran immigrant to be tried in Reno for all four homicides he’s accused of committing during a six-day crime rampage in two Northern Nevada counties in January 2019, but the trial is still at least months away.
Washoe County District Judge Connie Steinheimer scheduled a hearing Wednesday on a motion by public defenders for Wilber Martinez-Guzman to postpone the trial indefinitely so they can eventually travel to El Salvador to gather information about his background, including his mental capacity.
Travel there is currently prohibited because of the coronavirus.
Martinez-Guzman, 21, is facing the death penalty after he was indicted last year in the killing of an elderly Reno couple and two Gardnerville women in their homes.
The Nevada Supreme Court ruled in March that Washoe County prosecutors lack jurisdictional authority to prosecute him in Reno for the two killings in nearby Douglas County.
The high court ordered Steinheimer to reconsider her refusal to dismiss some of the charges. But the justices explained that she could deny the motion again if she determined that the crimes were sufficiently related to justify prosecuting him in Washoe County.
The (Gardnerville) Record-Courier reported that Steinheimer ruled Wednesday that the Washoe County grand jury’s indictment is valid.
Federal officials have said Martinez-Guzman is in the
U.S. illegally, but they don’t know how or when he crossed the Mexico-U.S. border. The case has drawn the attention of President Donald Trump, who says it shows the need for a border wall.
The 10-count indictment includes four counts of murder and multiple burglary charges.
Investigators say Martinez-Guzman stole a revolver from Gerald and Sharon David in southwestern Reno on Jan. 4, 2019, before traveling to rural Douglas County, where he shot Constance Koontz on Jan. 9 and Sophia Renken on Jan. 12, then returned to rob and kill the Davids on Jan. 15.
District Attorneys Chris Hicks of Washoe County and Mark Jackson of Douglas County said they sought a single indictment in Reno partly to expedite prosecution.
They insisted the crimes are linked because Martinez-Guzman shot all four victims with the same gun he stole from the Reno couple he had worked for in 2018 as a landscaper.