DA seeks to revoke bail for onetime fugitive
Prosecutor wants Martinez, facing aggravated assault and other charges, locked up
The district attorney in Sandoval County is trying to put a cat back in the bag.
Thirteenth Judicial District Attorney Lemuel Martinez filed a motion Wednesday asking the state District Court in Bernalillo to keep notorious Santa Fe criminal Daniel Martinez in jail until he can be tried on new charges he picked up last week.
But Daniel Martinez — who has a history of being a fugitive from justice — already has been released. In order for authorities to lock him up again, if a judge determines he poses a danger to the community, he will have to voluntarily appear at a hearing Monday.
Martinez, 54, is perhaps best known for being acquitted by a Santa Fe County jury in 1993 in a high-profile rape and murder case, in which he was accused of raping a woman and then stealing a gun from a sheriff ’s deputy who had responded to the scene and using it to fatally shoot a pharmacist, Chester Radecki, who had arrived after hearing the woman’s screams.
After being found not guilty in that case, Martinez was convicted of various other crimes over the next few decades and has spent a significant portion of his life in prison.
In its motion asking the court to keep Martinez in jail until his trial on aggravated assault and other charges
in the July incident in Sandoval County, the District Attorney’s Office says, “The defendant has a thirty-five year long criminal history filled with violent offenses including convictions for False Imprisonment, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Breaking and Entering, Possession of a Controlled Substance, Escape from the Custody of a Peace Officer, Attempted Kidnapping with the Intent to Commit Great Bodily Harm, Death or a Sexual Offense, and Battery on a Household Member.”
The motion says no conditions of release can reasonably protect the community from Martinez.
He was arrested July 19 after being accused of chasing a young Santa Fe woman who had left Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center and was driving south on Interstate 25. According to a Sandoval County sheriff ’s deputy’s affidavit, the woman said he ran her vehicle off the road at the Budaghers exit of Interstate 25 and then refused to allow her back on the highway.
Martinez told the deputy he was following the woman because she was a friend of his ex-girlfriend and had stolen items from him, and he was trying to recover property, the affidavit said.
But the woman said she didn’t know Martinez and had never seen him before, according to the state’s motion seeking pretrial detention.
Martinez spent the weekend in jail after his arrest, but Sandoval County Magistrate Delilah Montano-Baca ordered his release the following Monday on a $500 bond.
District Attorney Lemuel Martinez — who is not related to the defendant — said it’s common for judges to hold release hearings without a representative from his office present and to grant a defendant’s release based solely on a review of the person’s criminal history.
Lemuel Martinez said his office only sends a prosecutor to initial court appearances if “invited” to do so by a magistrate.
Montano-Baca has not responded to messages seeking comment on her decision to order Daniel Martinez’s release on bond.
Daniel Martinez has a history of fleeing from the law.
He fled the scene of the fatal shooting in 1992 in a Santa Fe County sheriff deputy’s car, according to reports from the time, and later was arrested in California.
In 2010, after a DWI arrest, Martinez picked the lock on his handcuffs and escaped from custody of a New Mexico State Police officer.
In his most recent case, Martinez is charged with aggravated assault, reckless driving and possession of a concealed deadly weapon — brass knuckles.
Asked Friday if he thinks Daniel Martinez will show up for the hearing Monday in the state District Court in Bernalillo, Lemuel Martinez said, “I don’t know. I hope his attorney has him show up. If he doesn’t, a bench warrant will be issued for his arrest. Then we’ll set another, higher bond, or he will be detained until the next hearing.”
Online court records don’t list an attorney for Daniel Martinez. He did not respond to a message seeking comment Friday.
The district attorney asked the court in his motion to issue a bench warrant for Daniel Martinez’s arrest before Monday’s hearing, but the prosecutor said Friday he didn’t know if one had been issued.
No warrant was posted in the online court file for the case.
Asked what mechanisms are in place to prevent dangerous defendants from being released before a prosecutor has reviewed a case, Lemuel Martinez said Friday that during former Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration, “a lot of money was given to the courts” to give judges the capability to review a defendant’s criminal history online prior to a first appearance.
“So they should have information on the background of these people before they are released,” he said.