TRIAL RESET

First ended with hung jury in Denver

Former APS official Jason Martinez’ second trial on child sex assault charges won’t be held until at least June 12.

The second child sex assault trial of Former Albuquerque Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Jason Martinez has been postponed to June 12 at the earliest.

Martinez had been s cheduled to go before a Colorado jury again last week after his first trial ended without a unanimous verdict on Oct. 26.

Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver District Attorney’s Office, said Martinez’s attorney filed a motion for a continuance on the second trial in February. The delay is unusually long, Kimbrough said, but scheduling conflicts for the court and attorneys precluded an earlier date.

Martinez was charged in 2013 with molesting relatives, both boys under age 12.

“We appreciate the patience of the victims and their families,” Kimbrough said. “We will be ready to go forward in June.”

Martinez is also involved in a separate domestic violence case in which he is accused of assaulting his boyfriend and hitting another person with his car in January 2015.

Kimbrough said that trial will not go forward until the child sex assault case concludes.

All charges were filed in Colorado before Martinez began his job with APS in July 2015. He worked for the district for a month and a half but never completed a mandatory criminal background check that would have revealed his legal problems.

Questions remain about how Martinez bypassed the system.

Former Superintendent Luis Valentino said that he had only heard about the incomplete background check twice, while the head of APS human resources claimed through her attorney that she had told Valentino six times.

Martinez resigned as deputy superintendent Aug. 18. Valentino followed Aug. 31, stepping down with an $80,000 buyout and a positive reference letter from the APS board.