Martinez

After his first trial ended in a hung jury, defendant Eddie Felix Martinez was retried and convicted of the following: one count of first degree murder (count 1), two counts of attempted murder (counts 2 and 3), two counts of shooting at a motor vehicle (counts 4 and 5), and three counts of assault with a semiautomatic handgun (counts 6 through 8). The jury found true the allegations that the attempted murders were committed with deliberation and premeditation and that defendant personally used a firearm to commit the murder, attempted murders, and assaults. The trial court sentenced defendant to consecutive indeterminate terms of 25 years to life on count 1, two terms of life with the possibility of parole on counts 2 and 3, plus a determinate term of 25 years and four months on counts 4, 5, and 8. The court stayed sentence on counts 6 and 7.

Defendant contends his constitutional rights were violated because, after the preliminary hearing testimony of a nontestifying accomplice, Frank Fierro, was admitted into evidence, the court also permitted the jury to hear a recording of Fierro’s statement to the police. Defendant further argues insufficient evidence existed to…