Victims’ kin testifies in Clay trial
Recalls finding mother dead, father injured
Cristopher Martinez awoke that morning in April 2012 to discover his younger brother had a bloody nose. He went to grab a tissue, opening his bedroom door.
“I just see a puddle of blood,” Cristopher, now 15, told jurors Thursday, stopping to wipe tears from his face as he recalled the April 15 morning that he turned into the hallway and saw his mom on the floor. His dad stood over her, visibly bleeding on his head and unable to speak. His sister was also dead.
Cristopher took the witness stand during the death penalty trial of Bryan Clay, who is accused of raping and killing Ignacia “Yadira” Martinez, 38, and the couple’s 10-year-old daughter, Karla.
As the teen spoke, Clay, wearing a lavender shirt and tie, sat next to his attorneys on the right side of the courtroom. He stared at the witness as the tears muffled Cristopher’s testimony.
“You tell me when you’re ready, OK?” District Judge Douglas Herndon asked, passing the young boy a box of tissues.
Cristopher testified that his father, Arturo Martinez, periodically threw up and fainted throughout the day that Sunday. He fell asleep on the couch and on the floor in his two sons’ rooms.
“He hugged me, and that’s it. He just hugged me,” Cristopher said. “I was trying to ask him what happened, and who did this, but he couldn’t answer.”
At the time, the family didn’t have a cable to charge their cellphones and call for help, he testified. Cristopher went back to his room.
TRIAL
pulled out a gun. He said a struggle broke out, and the gun accidentally discharged, firing one round into the woman’s upper-left side.
Gonzalez was arrested after being interviewed by homicide detectives at Metro headquarters. Mcgrath said police believe a struggle did occur, but Gonzalez’s statements were inconsistent with the crime scene and the evidence.
Mcgrath said there was one domestic disturbance call at the home in September, but no one was hurt, and no arrests were made. He said the two were separated, and the man had not lived in the home since September.
According to court minutes, an attorney who represented Nguyen at the Oct. 25 hearing said the couple had reached a settlement and would be submitting a divorce decree. The attorney said Gonzalez had been on disability for several months, and the parties wanted child support set at the minimum of $100 a month.
Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.