State v. Martinez

Facts

Eighteen-year-old Venancio Cisneros and his thirteen-year-old girlfriend AO had been shot and killed in Cisneros's car off a dirt road in Santa Fe on October 25, 2014. A potential eyewitness named Emilio Benitez surfaced. Benitez confirmed that he witnessed someone walking away from Cisneros's vehicle on October 24, 2014. Benitez stated that while he was parked in front of his friend's house, he witnessed a car, later identified as Cisneros's vehicle, arrive and park at the location where Cisneros and AO were found dead. Benitez said he did not see how many people were in the car when it arrived. Benitez said that soon thereafter, he drove back to his house, which was about two blocks away, to pick up a battery charger to start a truck at his friend's house. As he drove home, Benitez said he heard two gunshots. When Benitez arrived back at his friend's house about ten to fifteen minutes later, he said he witnessed someone about fifty yards away walking away from Cisneros's vehicle and that he was able to look straight at this person for a few seconds. Benitez stated that all of this occurred between 1:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. on October 24, 2014. Benitez described the individual as being young, skinny, and with skin that was a 'little dark' and as having neck and arm tattoos. The individual's hair was about two inches long and had a mustache and short goatee. Benitez told the officers that he did not have good eyesight but that he could recognize the person he saw if he was shown a picture. Detective Jaramillo showed Benitez five or six 'jail photos' of different individuals, including a picture of D, as Benitez sat in Detective Jaramillo's vehicle. Benitez testified that he identified the person he saw at the scene of the shooting as one of the individuals in the photos presented by Detective Jaramillo. The Detective denied ever showing the pictures. Detective Jaramillo interviewed D's friend Jesus Rodriguez. Rodriguez then told D that the police suspected that he and D murdered Cisneros and AO and that the officers had a picture of D. D left Santa Fe and traveled to Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his uncle Melicendro Martinez. Detective Jaramillo assembled a photo array and requested that Benitez come to the sheriff's office to view the array on November 5, 2014. The array was composed of six photographs some of which were apparently the same photos shown to Benitez two days before as well as some photos that were new to him. Benitez identified a photo of D as the person he saw at the scene of the shooting. Benitez stated that the photograph was of the same individual who he identified at the scene of the shooting as the person he saw walking away from Cisneros's car on October 24, 2014. Police executed a search warrant for Ds residence on November 7, 2014, and collected five cell phones and a smoking pipe. D and Melicendro were both arrested in Colorado on November 15, 2014. D stated that he did not know Cisneros or AO well. D admitted that he and Melicendro got into Cisneros's car on the day of the shooting. D consistently asserted that he did not know who killed Cisneros and AO or why it happened. D stated that while he was in the car, Cisneros dropped Melicendro off at his girlfriend's house. Defendant asserted that soon afterward Cisneros dropped him off at the house of his friend Gilbert or Shantel's house. D filed a motion to suppress the photo identification and any subsequent in-court identification under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article II, Sections 14 and 18 of the New Mexico Constitution on grounds that Benitez's 'identification was the product of impermissibly suggestive identification procedures.' The motion was denied. At trial, Agent Russell Romero, a member of the FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team, testified as an expert in historical cell site analysis for 'geo-locating' cell phone usage. The cell phone evidence placed D in the area of the shooting at the appropriate time frames. D's DNA was also found on the exterior rear passenger-side door of Cisneros's car. An unknown male's DNA was also found on the exterior rear passenger-side door, and a different unknown male's DNA was found on the interior rear passenger-side door. Benitez identified D in court as the individual he saw walking away from the scene of the shooting on October 24, 2014. The State called Joseph Montoya, an inmate at the Santa Fe County jail with D between May 1 and May 18, 2015. Montoya stated that D told him that he shot them because Cisneros owed him money for cocaine and that D's uncle picked him up after the shooting. Montoya entered into a plea agreement with the State to cooperate and testify in D's case. In exchange for his testimony, Montoya agreed to serve one year of incarceration followed by three years of supervised probation. Prior to entering into the agreement, Montoya faced 42.5 years of incarceration. Defendant called Denise Montoya, Montoya's ex-girlfriend, to testify. She stated that Montoya is a compulsive liar. D was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. D appealed. 

Issues

Rule of Law

Holding and Decision

Legal Analysis

© 2007-2024 ABN Study Partner.