Nicholas Roybal-Martinez, of Medanales, has been ordered to report to pre-trial services
A Medanales man who went on an alleged stabbing spree on April 22 in Española, attacking five people with a knife, fleeing the scene and then found hiding under a dog kennel, has been released on his own recognizance.
Rio Arriba Magistrate Judge Alexandra Naranjo released Nicholas Roybal-Martinez, 31, on April 23 and ordered him to report to pre-trial services. He is charged with five counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count each of tampering with evidence and resisting arrest.
Prosecutors did not request he be held as a danger to the community.
Española Police Officer Francisco Lovato wrote in a five-paragraph criminal complaint that he was sent to Star Lane for a stabbing. Witnesses pointed to the end of the cul-de-sac, and told him, “he’s right there,” as Martinez allegedly jumped a fence. Officers found him hiding under a dog kennel.
Ten minutes after the initial call and arresting of Martinez, officers went back to the scene, where they found four people with stab wounds and cuts, including one woman in the living room of the house with a “laceration” on her head, a man in a back bedroom with a stab wound to the back, a woman outside the house with a “laceration” to her head and another woman with a stab wound in the back and a cut on her neck, Lovato wrote.
He did not write how serious any of the “lacerations” were.
After those four people were transported to the hospital, officers started looking for more witnesses and identified a fifth victim, who said he was inside a nearby house, remodeling on a ladder, when he “felt something hit him from behind,” Lovato wrote.
“When (victim) turned around he stated that he saw the male who was detained trying to attack him, where (victim) defended himself, and noticed that the male had a knife in his hand,” he wrote.
Police Chief Mizel Garcia said two of the stabbing victims were airlifted to the hospital.
Lovato did not write how injured the man was or if he had to go to the hospital.
Another witness told officers he saw a knife in a neighbor’s yard, with bloodstains on it, he wrote.
In an affidavit for an arrest warrant, Detective James Mayers wrote that Martinez was found under a blue tarp, with no mention of a dog kennel.
“When asked about the status of the individuals at the hospital I learned they were all unconscious but had received numerous stab wounds at various locations on their bodies,” Mayers wrote.
At the police station, Martinez told officers that he invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and then kept talking, saying that he was kidnapped, tied up and held at the house.
“When I tried to explain to Nicholas I did not know what was going on he stated he wanted to speak to a lawyer before any questions were asked of him,” Mayers wrote.
According to the search warrant return, officers seized bloody towel, hairs, “one DUR” and a “case” with money in it.
A status conference is set for May 21.
Past cases
In 2019, Martinez pleaded guilty to aggravated battery of an officer and aggravated fleeing an officer after he pushed an officer down after a police chase, and kicked him repeatedly in the head and back.
Per the plea deal, he was sentenced to a year on house arrest.
In that case, he admitted to receiving a conditional discharge for residential burglary in 2012 and receiving stolen property over $500 in 2013.