Kevin Martinez pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping, child rape and bribery of a witness on Sept. 23, with a plea deal that sets his sentence at seven to 15 years.
Martinez, 25, of Hernandez, is charged with murder for allegedly shooting his neighbor, Elmer Sanchez, 36, at the trailer park where he was staying with his grandmother, while on pre-trial release in the rape case. The shooting occurred after an argument over who shot a dog in 2023.
No sentencing date has been set for Martinez in the rape case.
The plea deal also resolves a second case, where he was accused of breaking into the Northern New Mexico College.
His murder case is set for a status conference on Nov. 3, followed by tentative jury selection on Nov. 26. A jury selection hearing in September was canceled and no new trial dates were set.
According to the plea deal, Martinez faces supervised probation of five to 20 years after getting out on whatever sentence the judges decides.
Martinez will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Whatever sentence he does receive, he will be required to serve 80% of it before he is released because kidnapping and rape are serious violent offenses. When charges are not serious violent offenses, prisoners are eligible to receive good time, effectively allowing release after serving 50% of a sentence.
Prosecutors will dismiss the remaining 11 counts against him. In all, Martinez was charged in an amended criminal information with: 10 counts of child rape and one count each of kidnapping, child abuse, bribery of a witness and interference with communications, down from an initial 23 counts.
The Kidnapping
Martinez allegedly picked up a 14-year-old girl in April 2020 and said he was going to drive her around town, but instead took her to his house in Hernandez, took her phone and held her captive in his house for two weeks, raping her twice a day for nine days, a total of 18 times, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant.
The girl finally escaped after getting her phone back and calling for help from her aunt’s boyfriend, who picked her up as Martinez chased her on foot. She reported the rape to her mother who told her she could report it to law enforcement “if she wanted,” State Police Agent Shane Faulkner wrote in the affidavit.
“(The victim) did not know what to do and ultimately only reported through her grandmother upon recently learning that she was pregnant as a result this incident,” Faulkner wrote.
When she told Martinez via Facebook that she was pregnant, he allegedly responded that she was “too young to get pregnant, and if she reported him, she would never be found.”
The victim told a forensic interviewer that she saw Martinez’s grandparents while being held captive and raped, but she was afraid to say anything to them.
The Murder Case
In court documents, prosecutors and deputies wrote that on Oct. 17, 2022, there was an “incident” where Martinez allegedly shot Sanchez’s dog and Sanchez confronted Martinez.
When first questioned by officers at the scene, Martinez allegedly told them he had nothing to do with the shooting.
Deputies initially arrested a different man, Jerrid Maestas, on a charge of murder for Sanchez’s death, but then dropped those charges in favor of tampering with evidence and possession of a firearm, after prosecutors alleged in court documents that Maestas made a deal with Martinez’s grandmother that he would not mention Martinez’s involvement, and neither would she, and she would not tell police that he had a gun, which is illegal because he has previously been convicted of a felony.
Maestas pleaded guilty to those two charges.
Sanchez’s bullet wound did not match the gun Maestas had, according to court documents.
By Wheeler Cowperthwaite
Special to the SUN
Kevin Martinez pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping, child rape and bribery of a witness on Sept. 23, with a plea deal that sets his sentence at seven to 15 years.
Martinez, 25, of Hernandez, is charged with murder for allegedly shooting his neighbor, Elmer Sanchez, 36, at the trailer park where he was staying with his grandmother, while on pre-trial release in the rape case. The shooting occurred after an argument over who shot a dog in 2023.
No sentencing date has been set for Martinez in the rape case.
The plea deal also resolves a second case, where he was accused of breaking into the Northern New Mexico College.
His murder case is set for a status conference on Nov. 3, followed by tentative jury selection on Nov. 26. A jury selection hearing in September was canceled and no new trial dates were set.
According to the plea deal, Martinez faces supervised probation of five to 20 years after getting out on whatever sentence the judges decides.
Martinez will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Whatever sentence he does receive, he will be required to serve 80% of it before he is released because kidnapping and rape are serious violent offenses. When charges are not serious violent offenses, prisoners are eligible to receive good time, effectively allowing release after serving 50% of a sentence.
Prosecutors will dismiss the remaining 11 counts against him. In all, Martinez was charged in an amended criminal information with: 10 counts of child rape and one count each of kidnapping, child abuse, bribery of a witness and interference with communications, down from an initial 23 counts.
The Kidnapping
Martinez allegedly picked up a 14-year-old girl in April 2020 and said he was going to drive her around town, but instead took her to his house in Hernandez, took her phone and held her captive in his house for two weeks, raping her twice a day for nine days, a total of 18 times, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant.
The girl finally escaped after getting her phone back and calling for help from her aunt’s boyfriend, who picked her up as Martinez chased her on foot. She reported the rape to her mother who told her she could report it to law enforcement “if she wanted,” State Police Agent Shane Faulkner wrote in the affidavit.
“(The victim) did not know what to do and ultimately only reported through her grandmother upon recently learning that she was pregnant as a result this incident,” Faulkner wrote.
When she told Martinez via Facebook that she was pregnant, he allegedly responded that she was “too young to get pregnant, and if she reported him, she would never be found.”
The victim told a forensic interviewer that she saw Martinez’s grandparents while being held captive and raped, but she was afraid to say anything to them.
The Murder Case
In court documents, prosecutors and deputies wrote that on Oct. 17, 2022, there was an “incident” where Martinez allegedly shot Sanchez’s dog and Sanchez confronted Martinez.
When first questioned by officers at the scene, Martinez allegedly told them he had nothing to do with the shooting.
Deputies initially arrested a different man, Jerrid Maestas, on a charge of murder for Sanchez’s death, but then dropped those charges in favor of tampering with evidence and possession of a firearm, after prosecutors alleged in court documents that Maestas made a deal with Martinez’s grandmother that he would not mention Martinez’s involvement, and neither would she, and she would not tell police that he had a gun, which is illegal because he has previously been convicted of a felony.
Maestas pleaded guilty to those two charges.
Sanchez’s bullet wound did not match the gun Maestas had, according to court documents.