Hearing postponed for man accused of killing five in Modesto, toddler in abuse case
A preliminary hearing that was scheduled to resume in January has been postponed until May for Martin Martinez, a Modesto man accused of killing his girlfriend, her three children, his mother and his niece.
Martinez appeared in court Monday morning. He has remained in custody since Amanda Crews, her two daughters, Martinez’s mother and his niece were found dead inside her east Modesto home more than three years ago.
The 34-year-old man has been charged with five counts of murder. The preliminary hearing in that case began in August 2017 with testimony that indicated that Martinez had a $2 bill with Crews’ blood when he was taken into custody in San Jose.
In a separate case, Martinez has been ordered to stand trial on charges of murder and child abuse in the Oct. 2, 2014, death of Crews’ 2-year-old son, Christopher Ripley. The trial in Christopher’s death has not been scheduled. That case has been set aside, for now, as the case in the 2015 killings moves forward.
On July 18, 2015, the bodies of the two women and three children were found July 18, 2015, in Crews’ two-story house on Nob Hill Court in Modesto. The victims were Crews, 38, her daughters, 6-month-old Rachael and 6-year-old Elizabeth; Martinez’s mother, Anna Brown Romero, 57; and Martinez’s 5-year-old niece, Esmeralda Navarro. Martinez was Rachael’s father.
The hearing to determine whether there’s enough evidence for Martinez to stand trial in the five slayings has been scheduled to continue before but postponed for various reasons. This time, the hearing was postponed because of changes to Martinez’s defense team.
Former Stanislaus County Public Defender Sonny Sandhu, who was one of Martinez’s two court-appointed defense attorneys, has been appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown as the newest judge in Stanislaus Superior Court.
Maureen Keller now has replaced Sandhu as the interim county public defender. She was also part of Martinez’s defense team with Sandhu. She’s brought on a Deputy Public Defender to assist in Martinez’s legal defense.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Annette Rees and Deputy District Attorney Rick Mury are prosecuting Martinez. The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office is seeking the death penalty against Martinez in the five slayings.
On Monday, Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Ricardo Córdova rescheduled the hearing to resume May 20. The attorneys told the judge the rest of the preliminary hearing is expected to last two to three weeks before Córdova makes a ruling.
This story was originally published November 26, 2018 at 10:11 PM with the headline "Hearing postponed for man accused of killing five in Modesto, toddler in abuse case."