Published Oct 16, 2008
A Chimayó resident died of an apparent drug overdose Sept. 30, according to State Police.
Joseph Martinez, 42, was transported to Española Hospital from his Chimayó house after a friend tried to revive him using CPR, State Police Lt. Daniel Lovato said. The friend, who called 911, said Martinez was overdosing from an unidentified drug or drugs, Lovato said. Martinez died at Española Hospital five hours later, Lovato said.
State Office of the Medical Investigator records specialist Anthony Cervantes said the cause of death will not be released until toxicology test results are available. Martinez was reported as having a history of drug abuse, Cervantes said.
Martinez’s mother, Vivian Velasquez, said Martinez had been working as an electrician recently.
Martinez’s sister, Elaine Martinez, said Martinez was known for his generosity and his good cooking.
“We had just told him before he passed on that he should open up a catering business,” Elaine Martinez said. “Cooking was his favorite thing.”
SUN Staff Report
A man convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend and threatening her with a kitchen knife was remanded to Virginia a little earlier than expected after he violated his probation, according to the District Attorney’s office.
Stephen Montaño, 26, of Rowe, was originally charged with three counts of rape and nine other felonies for an April 2007 incident in which he allegedly broke into his ex-girlfriend’s Guachupange house and raped her repeatedly under threat of death, according to court documents. One of the rape counts was amended to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and the other 11 charges were dismissed July 18, 2008, Assistant District Attorney Jason Montclare said.
Montaño’s plea deal was made after the state Department of Public Safety crime lab returned DNA evidence linking Montaño to the alleged rape too late to be admissable in court, according to Montclare. Inconsistencies in witness statements given by the victim’s 17-year-old cousin further weakened the case, he said.
Montaño was sentenced Aug. 12 to time served plus four months of probation, after which he was to be remanded to Virginia. However, the probation office reported Montaño began causing problems immediately by being “resistant” to Adult Probation and Parole office staff and appearing “extremely unhappy” to be placed under intensive supervision.
Montaño told probation officers he didn’t have a working phone at his house for the electronic monitoring system, and then he never showed up at the probation office the following morning to download the GPS information verifying his residence, according to a probation violation report.
After being arrested for failure to comply with the terms of probation, Montaño claimed his noncompliance was caused by “extreme stress,” court documents state.
Montclare said after a Sept. 22 probation violation hearing, Montaño was “unsuccessfully terminated” from his probation and remanded to Virginia.
“The idea was we didn’t want him to be here, near the victim,” Montclare said.