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Friday, March 12, 2010
Child Porn Case Postponed to April
Journal Staff Report
A federal judge who suppressed evidence in a child porn case after finding deputies had illegally searched the home of the defendant agreed Thursday to postpone the trial scheduled to start Monday.
U.S. District Judge James O. Browning said he would move the trial of Joseph Martinez to an April docket while prosecutors decide whether they will seek a pretrial appeal of his suppression order.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlyn Rees filed a notice of appeal, but a final decision awaits review by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Martinez's attorney, Sam Bregman, also asked that his client be released while the likely appeal is pending.
Browning said, however, it is premature to release Martinez, whom he had previously ordered into detention after finding he was a danger to the community. He said the parties could revisit the issue once prosecutors make a decision on an appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bregman argued that it would be extremely unfair to Martinez to require him to say in jail indefinitely "on a case in which all the evidence against him has been found to be inadmissible and obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment."
Martinez has been in jail for about six months in the federal case. He faces child rape charges in state court, where he was allowed to post $225,000 bond based on his lack of a criminal record.
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