P. v. Martinez CA2/3
In 1992, Morrad Ghonim paid defendant and appellant Leon Andrew Martinez to murder Ghonim’s 17-year-old wife, Vicki Zepeda Ghonim. The case remained unsolved until 2009, when DNA analysis linked Martinez to the crime. Martinez was tried twice. In his first trial, the jury convicted him of conspiring to dissuade a witness, but deadlocked on the murder charge. Upon retrial, the jury convicted Martinez of first degree murder with true findings on various special circumstances allegations. Martinez contends the trial court erred by taking judicial notice, in his second trial, of the dissuading a witness conviction rendered in his first trial; the prosecution violated Brady v. Maryland (1963) 373 U.S. 83 (Brady) by failing to disclose a videotape of a 2010 jail cell encounter between him and Ghonim; and the cumulative effect of the purported errors requires reversal. Discerning no error, we affirm the judgment.
Comments on P. v. Martinez CA2/3