​Kevin Martinez Arraignment in Elmer Sanchez Jr. Murder Case Set

By Jake Arnold
​
First Judicial District Judge Jason Lidyard has scheduled the arraignment of Kevin Martinez, charged with murdering Elmer Sanchez Jr. in Hernandez in October, 2022.
 
This case against Martinez is proceeding after Lidyard bound over Martinez for trial at the conclusion of a preliminary hearing the judge conducted last week in Tierra Amarilla.  Preliminary hearings are conducted when defendants are charged when a "criminal information" (a type of complaint) is filed against them, rather than the charges being brought via grand jury indictments. 
 
Binding over a defendant for trial does not indicate a judge has come to a conclusion regarding the defendant's guilt or innocence, but is rather a determination that the judge believes sufficient evidence is at hand to justify a trial at which a jury would render a verdict.  Most felony cases in New Mexico district courts are now prosecuted on the basis of a criminal information. 
 
Often defendants waive their right to a preliminary hearing, but in this matter Martinez' attorney vigorously questioned witnesses in a failed attempt have Lidyard dismiss the case at this stage based on conflicting/contradictory testimony from those witnesses.
 
The trial date in this case will be set by the judge at Martinez' arraignment in Lidyard's Tierra Amarilla courtroom on August 15, 2023.  
 
Martinez is also facing trial in three additional felony cases in which Lidyard is the pressing judge.  Those other cases are all set for trial later this year.  The charges in those other cases are:
• 23 counts of rape and kidnapping in a long-delayed case dating back to 2020.  Martinez is being held without bond pending trial in this case after he failed to appeared for several routine pre-trial hearings in this matter since 2020
 
• Burglary of facilities at Northern New Mexico College in El Rito earlier this year (that alleged crime occurring the same day that Martinez was suspected of stealing a catalytic converter from a car in El Rito).
 
• Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (a motor vehicle) and associated charges stemming from an incident at the Dollar General Store in Hernandez earlier this year when Martinez allegedly tried to run over law enforcement officers seeking to apprehend him as a fugitive in the murder and burglary cases.  According to police reports, Martinez successfully evaded those officers and was later apprehended several weeks later by a SWAT team at hideout near Española that they had under surveillance.
 
The recent non-bond hold in the rape/kidnapping case effectively means Martinez must remain in custody while the other three felony cases are pending concurrently.