Oceanside Man Convicted of Fatally Stabbing Wife Has Charges Dropped

Man is Set Free After Convicted of Killing Wife

A murder charge was dismissed Friday against an Oceanside man who had already been convicted and served time for the murder of his wife in a Mexican prison.

Celestino Mendez Martinez had been charged by San Diego County prosecutors because they felt he got off too easy in spending less than six years in prison for the May 19, 1988, slaying of Magdalena "Maggie" Martinez in El Cajon.

The defendant was re-arrested last September when he was found living in Oceanside under an assumed name.

El Cajon Judge Herbert Exarhos, after hearing arguments from both sides, ruled in favor of a defense motion to dismiss the case, noting that when Martinez was convicted in Mexico, California law barred the state from re- filing charges.

The California Legislature has since changed the law to allow prosecutors to charge people with crimes, even if they have already been convicted and punished for the same crime in another country.

The San Diego County District Attorney's Office used the law change to charge Martinez, but the judge ruled that violated the ex post facto clause of the U.S. and California constitutions.

"The constitution is alive in El Cajon," defense attorney Kim Vegas told reporters after the hearing. "It's just exhilarating to see the constitution was not ignored."

Martinez had a double jeopardy defense available "until the legislature took it away from him," Vegas said.

The defendant, now 43, told police that he was angry with his ex-wife over a requirement that he give notice before visiting his children. He said he went to her parents' home with a knife "in case he wanted to use it on her," police said.

After the killing, which U.S. prosecutors said was premeditated, Martinez fled to Mexico with one of children.

El Cajon police contacted Mexican authorities, who arrested Martinez but refused to extradite him back to the United States.

Martinez could not have been convicted in Baja California if not for the help of the El Cajon Police Department and the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, Vegas said.

The case was closely watched in legal circles because Martinez is the first defendant to be prosecuted under the 2005 amendment to the statutes.

It has also been closely watched in Japan, where a Japanese businessman was convicted of murdering his wife in Los Angeles, and is now being prosecuted in Los Angeles County after being arrested in the U.S. territory of Saipan.

It's unknown how long Martinez was back in the United States before he was arrested last year. His lawyer said he'll be transported to U.S. immigration authorities, who may prosecute him for being in the country illegally.

Deputy District Attorney Kathryn Gayle said she was "disappointed" on behalf of the victim's family. She said her office will review the judge's decision before deciding whether to appeal.
An Oceanside man convicted in Mexico and sent to prison for fatally stabbing his ex-wife in El Cajon will ask a Superior Court judge Friday to dismiss murder charges against him brought by San Diego County prosecutors.

Prosecutors say Celestino Mendez Martinez got off too easy when he served nearly six years in a Mexican prison for killing Magdalena "Maggie" Lopez Martinez on May 19, 1988, in front of her mother.

The defendant, now 43, told police that he was angry with his ex-wife over a requirement that he give notice before visiting his children. He said he went to her parents' home with a knife "in case he wanted to use it on her," police said.

After the killing, which U.S. prosecutors say was premeditated, Martinez fled to Mexico with one of his children. El Cajon police contacted Mexican authorities, who arrested Martinez but refused to extradite him back to the United States.

Martinez was was living under an assumed name in Oceanside when he was re-arrested last September.

Martinez's attorney, Kim Vegas, said the prosecution of her client violates constitutional protection against double jeopardy.

State law changed in 2004, allowing someone who was tried in a foreign country to be tried for the same crime in California.

Judge Herbert Exarhos is being asked to decide what law applies, the one that existed in 1988 or the 2004 statute.

Martinez faces 25 years to life if convicted.

Link