New Haven man who tortured victims in 2018 gets 20 years in prison

NEW HAVEN — A man convicted of imprisoning and torturing two people inside a local apartment in November 2018 was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice.

Joshua Martinez, 29, of New Haven, was apprehended after one of the victims managed to escape and alert security personnel at the apartment complex, state officials said. Martinez was earlier found guilty of first-degree assault and intentional cruelty to persons, officials said.

“The resolution of this case shows the New Haven State’s Attorney’s Office’s continued commitment to holding violent offenders accountable and making sure they are brought to justice,” New Haven State’s

Attorney John P. Doyle Jr. said in a news release issued by the Division of Criminal Justice.

New Haven police responded to the apartment complex on Nov. 11, 2018 after a security guard called 911 from the lobby, according to state officials. When officers entered the apartment, they discovered a second victim bound with electrical cords at the wrists and ankles, officials said.

Investigators determined that victim had stopped by Martinez’s apartment the night before, according to state officials. When a fight broke out between the two, Martinez tied up the victim and proceeded to torture the victim in the ensuing hours by burning him or her with cigarettes and hot wax; hitting and cutting him or her with a knife; and forcing him or her to take sleeping pills, officials said.

State officials did not say when or why the second victim arrived at Martinez’s apartment but said he or she was restrained with a cable cord in a bedroom. Following a failed escape attempt, that victim was able to successfully flee the apartment by breaking free of the restraints and snapping the cable off of a shut door, according to officials. He or she encountered the security guard after taking the elevator down to the lobby, officials said.

Martinez was on probation for a previous assault conviction at the time of the incident, officials said. He was taken into custody by responding officers, officials said, noting a knife was recovered at his feet.

Martinez was sentenced by Judge Gerald L. Harmon in New Haven.