A teenager who refused to testify against his cousin at a murder hearing last year was sentenced Friday to spend 30 days in juvenile detention.
Jason Martinez was simply scared and didn't intentionally thumb his nose at justice when he ignored a judge's direct order to testify about the murder, his defense attorney argued.Third District Juvenile Judge Andrew Valdez disagreed, sentencing the boy to the maximum 10 days in detention and adding another 20 days for Martinez's violating probation.
The teenager purportedly told police that his cousin, 17-year-old Benjamin Martinez Jr., shot and killed Manual Ibarra, 15, during an Aug. 18 stare-down match.
But during a preliminary hearing in 3rd Circuit Court, Jason Martinez wouldn't talk about what he'd witnessed.
"I refuse to say nothin', man," he told Judge Sheila McCleve, who then held him in contempt of court.
Friday, the boy admitted he was guilty of the charge, though his attorney Earl Xaiz said no one could fault his client for not speaking up at the preliminary hearing.
"Ninety percent of the people who were in the hearing that day were his relations. All of them desperately wanted him not to testify . . . that's a lot of pressure for a 14-year-old," Xaiz argued.
He said the boy - by not testifying - did not aid his cousin in allegedly committing the murder. That statement drew immediate reaction from Valdez.
"That's hard to explain to the mother of a dead 15-year-old boy," the judge said, sitting forward in his chair.
Xaiz admitted a tragedy had occurred but said it was neither fair nor just for "the system to turn the blame" on Martinez for a murder that so far has not been vindicated.
The lawyer also said he promised the boy, based on conversations with police, that he would never have to testify against his cousin and best friend if he told officers what happened.
Valdez recessed for 10 minutes after the argument, then emerged from his chambers, saying Xaiz's promises to his client about not having to testify didn't lessen the contempt of court charge.
He also ruled that Martinez had violated his probation by refusing to testify and lifted a suspension on an earlier 20-day sentence imposed for drug-related offenses.