Crime & Safety

PROSECUTION: Alleged Killer Escaped Smirking

A man who allegedly killed a 20-year-old Temecula woman was grinning as he walked away from the scene, a prosecutor says.

 

A man who allegedly fatally shot a 20-year-old Temecula woman smiled as he walked away from the scene, a prosecutor said today.

Closing arguments began today at the in the murder trial of Jose Adan Martinez, 21, who was accused of shooting Maria Semental through her bedroom window.

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The defendant shot the woman over a gang dispute, Prosecutor Erica Schwartz told a jury.

"He said he was sending a message," she said.

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She asked the jury to find Martinez guilty of premeditated murder. "He knew what he was doing when he shot her over and over and over and over," she said.

He fired at Semental six times and hit her four -- one of which pierced her heart.

Schwartz projected an autopsy photo of Semental's body on a screen in the courtroom, and a woman in the audience put her hand over her face and began weeping.

Martinez admitted he was in a gang to law enforcement during three previous run-ins with the law in 2006, 2008 and 2009.

A fissure in the gang caused the killing, Schwartz argued.

An older member of the gang living in Mexico assumed leadership, and some of the younger members refused to follow his orders. A few days before the killing, Semental called the new leader and told him they were not going to "do his dirty work," Schwartz said.

A few days later, Martinez drove to the woman's Temecula home is a quiet middle-class housing tract, went in through a side gate and shot her through her bedroom window, the prosecutor said.

Forensic evidence, including bullets matching the defendant's handgun, which was found at a fellow gang member's house.

RELATED: Bullets Match Defendant's Gun

She preempted a possible defense argument about his alleged methamphetamine use. Some witnesses testified Martinez was on a three-day meth binge. That would have no affect on his judgement though, Schwartz told the jury.

"Just because you're smoking meth doesn't mean you can't go about your daily actions," she said.

Editor's note: A defense attorney was making his closing arguments at the time of this publication.





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