Thread: Officers testify at trial of man involved in fatal wreck

the driver looked at me and smiled'

Accused: Rigo Verto Guillen-Martinez listens to testimony with the help of an interpreter during his trial at the Rowan County Courthouse on Tuesday. Martinez faces charges of second degree murder, driving while impaired, hit and run and failure to stop for property damage. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.
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Officers testify at trial of man involved in fatal wreck
By Shavonne Potts
http://www.salisburypost.com/area/326989356323806.php
Salisbury Post
Kannapolis Police Officer David Horne said that when he got close to Rigo Verto Guillen-Martinez during a Feb. 6 pursuit, he saw Martinez smile as he looked at the officer in his rearview mirror.
It wasn't the first time, Horne said, that Martinez appeared to grin at him during what authorities and witnesses called drunken, erratic and high speed driving that ended in a wreck that killed 20-year-old Leeanna Newman and her unborn child.
Horne's testimony came during the first day of Martinez's trial for second-degree murder and other charges.
During the officer's testimony, jurors watched video from a police cruiser surveillance camera that showed Martinez driving wildly up Main Street in Kannapolis and Landis, cars swerving to avoid being struck by his Jeep Cherokee.
And in other testimony during the prosecution's presentation, a paramedic said Martinez told him after the wreck that he'd had 20 beers before taking the wheel that day.
Prosecutors say Martinez was fleeing Horne when he tried to turn off South Main Street in Landis, driving an estimated 75 mph, and overran the Saturn carrying the pregnant Newman and her toddler daughter.
During testimony Monday, most of Newman's family sat quietly but appeared emotional. One woman cried. Newman's husband, Bradley, appeared agitated. His leg shook as he and Martinez appeared to stare at one another and a relative led him out of the courtroom at one point.
Martinez showed no emotion as he listened to the proceedings through one of at least two interpreters present along with his defense attorney, Carlyle Sherrill. He came into court limping a bit, wearing a white dress shirt and khaki pants. His hair had been cut.
Horne said early in his testimony that he was investigating a previous incident when the red 1992 Jeep Cherokee that Martinez was driving nearly hit him as he stood on the roadside in Kannapolis.
The officer said he reached for the Jeep's door handle.
"The driver looked at me and smiled" before driving off, Horne said.
Horne jumped in his patrol car and followed Martinez.
Horne testified that Martinez slowed as he circled a house and that he could see the driver's side mirror.
"He looked at me in the mirror and smiled again," Horne said.
Jurors watched as a video captured by the surveillance camera in Horne's patrol car showed the pursuit. The officer described events on the video, which was shielded from the audience, including Newman's family. It showed oncoming cars moving out of the way as Martinez sped and swerved up Main Street.
Toward the end of the pursuit, Horne said, Martinez was pulling away from him.
Police became involved after receiving reports of the Jeep's operator driving erratically.
Two witnesses, Karen Page and Millicent Douglas, said Monday that Martinez had caused at least two wrecks.
Page alerted Horne that Martinez, whom she was following, had just hit two other vehicles.
Horne pursued Martinez into Landis, where authorities said Martinez was driving more than twice the posted 35 mph limit when he attempted to turn onto Highland Avenue and hit Newman's car head-on as she drove south on Main Street.
Newman was eight months pregnant. She died at Carolinas Medical Center, where doctors tried unsuccessfully to save her unborn daughter, Bianca.
Newman's 21-month-old daughter, Mallory, was in a child safety seat in the back seat of the Saturn. She suffered minor injuries.
Senior Rowan County Paramedic Lawrence Kersey testified that after smelling alcohol on Martinez he asked, in what he called broken Spanish, how many beers Martinez had.

Newman
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Twenty beers, Martinez replied in Spanish, Kersey said.
Kersey asked Martinez again, in English, if he'd really had 20 beers.
"He said 'Si,' " meaning yes, Kersey said.
Rowan District Attorney Bill Kenerly asked if Martinez inquired about Newman.
Kersey said he did not.
The paramedic said that when he arrived on the scene Martinez's leg was wrapped around the steering wheel column in the overturned Jeep. He added that Martinez had multiple fractures to his legs and bleeding to his face.
In the ambulance, Kersey said, Martinez told him he loved America and tried to leave a few times.
Eddie Asheworth, a wreck reconstructionist who worked for the Kannapolis Police Department at the time, said there were no skid marks, indicating that Martinez never slowed down before plowing into Newman. He estimated that Martinez was driving an average of 75 mph.
Newman had no time to slow down or stop before she was struck, Asheworth said.
Shortly after the collision police maintained there was no high-speed chase and that Horne never got close enough to Martinez to chase him.
Rebecca Guzman, an interpreter at NorthEast Medical Center, now Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast, testified that she was on her way to work when she saw the Kannapolis police officer pursuing the red SUV.
"The patrol car was right on him," she said.
Officer involved: Kannapolis Police Officer David Horne testifies during the trial. Horne was the officer pursuing Martinez before he crashed into a car driven by Leeanna Newman. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.
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When Guzman arrived at work, she was asked to interpret for law enforcement who needed to obtain blood from Martinez as well as read him his Miranda Rights.
She said Martinez kept saying he was fine and wanted to go home.
Martinez also faces charges of driving while impaired, hit and run and failure to stop for property damage.
Law enforcement officials determined that Martinez entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico and had been arrested numerous times using at least a half-dozen aliases prior to February's fatal wreck.
The trial continues today.
Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253 or spotts@salisburypost.com.

Hopefully a prison inmate will wipe the smile off this slime balls face!