DENVER (CN) - A man who spent 27 years in prison on a life sentence in the murder of a baby he maintains he did not commit will walk free after a Denver judge granted a motion to dismiss the case with prejudice on Tuesday.
"The people have filed to dismiss the case and based on the information before me, I am going to grant the motion to dismiss," said Second Judicial District Judge Andrew Luxen.
After a jury convicted Stephen Martinez in 1998 of the murder of 4-month old Heather Lynn Mares, a different Denver judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole in January 2000.
On the fateful day of Mares' death, Martinez's girlfriend had asked him to watch the baby. Martinez initially told officers he gave the baby a bottle to sooth her crying and when she began choking he called 911, trying to save her life. Medical examiners however saw signs of "shaken baby syndrome," and police obtained a confession from Martinez that he later recanted.
The Colorado Court of Appeals overturned the sentence in 2001, and the state Supreme Court reinstated it in 2003. The court rejected motions in 2006 and 2012 for postconviction relief in which Martinez argued he was denied the chance to accept a plea bargain.
The Korey Wise Innocence Project at the University of Colorado Boulder agreed to take up the case, hiring medical experts who concluded Mares' death was likely caused by pneumonia, not head trauma.
"This case is a tragedy on every front," said Jeanne Segil, assistant director of innocence project in a statement. "A four-month-old girl died. A grieving family thought they found justice for their loss. But the system failed them and Mr. Martinez. We now know he did not cause the baby's death - yet he lost over 27 years of his life imprisoned for a crime he did not commit."
Ultimately the Second Judicial District Attorney's Office agreed to support the conviction's dismissal, not because they now believe Mares died from lung disease but because Martinez's attorney never presented the jury with alternative theories, a distinction Senior Deputy District Attorney Jessica Sommer underscored in court.
District Attorney John Walsh said because his office is "unable now to meet our ethical and legal burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, we were obliged to dismiss the case."
"I want to emphasize that there was no misconduct on the part of the prosecutors or detectives who worked on the case in the late 1990s," Walsh added. "This is simply an example of the criminal justice system being willing and able to reassess a case when necessary."
Although many convictions for "shaken baby" related murders have been overturned in recent years, an estimated 1,300 children still suffer from head trauma-related abuse each year, per the American Association of Pediatrics.
In court, Mares' mother Kimberly Estrada asked the judge to maintain the conviction because she still believes Martinez was responsible for her baby's death.
"Please don't let this animal out on the street, he doesn't deserve it and neither do we," Estrada said. Mares was the only daughter she's ever had, and she wanted to spoil her.
"I need to know my other children will be safe in this world," Estrada said.
In a statement provided by his attorneys, Martinez said he now looks forward to rebuilding his life.
"People often talk about light at the end of the tunnel, but for me, I didn't even have a tunnel. I was serving life without parole. My appeals had all been denied. I was out of hope," Martinez said. "And then I received a letter from the Korey Wise Innocence Project almost four years ago saying that they were going to review my case. And thanks to their efforts, my entire legal team, and the amazing experts on my case, I can finally return home, an innocent man, and rebuild my life."
Source: Courthouse News Service
