Thread: Deaf and mute murder suspect prepares for defense

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Article published Aug 27, 2007
Deaf and mute murder suspect prepares for defense
By The Associated Press

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — A judge on Monday ordered a deaf and mute illegal immigrant charged with raping and killing a teenager transferred from a hospital where he has been learning sign language for two years to a jail so he can prepare his defense.

Oswaldo Martinez, 36, of El Salvador, was charged in the January 2005 slaying of 16-year-old Brittany Binger. He was found incompetent to stand trial in September 2005 because of his language deficiencies and inability to communicate with his attorneys; when he was arrested, Martinez had no communication skills except for a few primitive hand signals.

Martinez’ case is reviewed every six months, and he was found incompetent each of the three times he came before the court. His case is up for review again in November.

Martinez was ordered to undergo sign language therapy at Western State Hospital in Staunton in an effort to allow him to understand the charges against him and assist in his defense. Part of his treatment involved watching the television show “Law and Order,â€

Oh, Give me a freakin break. "Sign language therapy"??? And in 36 years it NEVER occured to him that rape, sodomy and MURDER are CRIMES? IN ANY COUNTRY? He has to be given 'sign language therapy' to understand he did something wrong and will - or nowadays- MIGHT be punished?

Puhleeze!

Deaf murder suspect's trial continued again
Oswaldo Martinez remains in hospital on charges from 2005 rape, killing of Williamsburg woman
By Dan Parsons
10:25 PM EDT, September 17, 2010

WILLIAMSBURG

The trial of Oswaldo Elias Martinez, the deaf man charged with murder in the 2005 death of a Williamsburg woman has been delayed again. The defense wants yet another evaluation to determine whether he is fit for trial, though prosecutors are convinced otherwise.

Martinez was scheduled Thursday for a competency review in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court. Instead the case was again continued, as it has been more than a dozen times over five years, so doctors from Gallaudet University can conduct an independent competency exam of Martinez, who cannot hear or speak and does not understand English.

Martinez, a 36-year-old illegal immigrant from El Salvador, is charged with rape, murder, sodomy and robbery in connection with the January 2005 killing of 16-year-old Brittany Binger.

Gallaudet doctors have in the past said that Martinez is not competent to stand trial and may never be brought to that level of communication, Williamsburg-James City County Commonwealth's Attorney Nate Green said. The university's doctors are brought in by the defense to offer a third-party opinion on Martinez's mental condition and ability to communicate, Green said.

Following his arrest, Martinez underwent extensive sign-language therapy at Western State Hospital in Staunton but remains unable to help his attorneys. In 2008, Martinez was moved to Central State Hospital in Petersburg, where he remains.

"We were ready yesterday to request that the court set a date for trial," Green said. "It is our position that he is able to sufficiently communicate with his lawyers to stand trial."

www.dailypress.com

Rape and murder case delayed in court
Suspect is an illegal immigrant, deaf, and mute
Updated: Wednesday, 15 Dec 2010, 9:25 PM EST
Published : Wednesday, 15 Dec 2010, 9:25 PM EST

JAMES CITY COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) - There was another heartbreaking delay in court Wednesday for the family of a 16-year-old girl who police say was raped and murdered nearly six years ago by an illegal immigrant who is also deaf and mute.

Unless Oswaldo Martinez, who prosecutors say is a perfect DNA match to the killer, learns enough sign language to communicate with his attorney, he might never stand trial.

The body of Brittany Binger was discovered in January 2005 on a patch of grassy land right in front of the mobile home park where she lived in James City County.

In court Wednesday the judge ruled that Martinez, in the country illegally from El Salvador, is still not yet competent to stand trail because he has not yet learned enough sigh language, even though experts at Central State Hospital have been teaching him sign language for nearly six years now. Prosecutor Nathan Green said hospital officials indicate Martinez is making progress in his ability to communicate.

Brittany's father, James Binger, stood outside the courthouse after the hearing with tears in his eyes and said, "This was supposed to come to an end today and it did not. I do believe this man is playing stupid because he knows what his fate is."

With a DNA match, if Martinez does learn enough sign language to stand trial, he would almost certainly go to prison for the rest of his life, according to the judge.

"This is what really concerns me, is that we are in the process of educating this young man to learn the language to communicate with his attorney, in the end if he's guilty he'll be placed in prison for the rest of his life and if that's what we're doing, he's smart enough, it appears to me, to realize that," said the judge. "My question is how much is he willing to learn and communicate if he knows at the end of the game is to have him placed in prison the rest of his life. That's my concern is that is he smart enough that he's gaming us?"

For the family, it's not just the fear of failing to get justice for Brittany, they say it's also the dangerous reality of what will happen if Martinez is ruled incompetent to stand trial.

"He goes home to El Salvador, free and clear," said prosecutor Nathan Green. "There would be nothing holding him here. There is a detainer on him and he is here illegally. I assume the federal government would deport him."

Brittany's father said, "That's real scary because he will get deported and within six months be back in this country and whose child is he going to rape and murder this time?"

It will now be mid-Summer before the court considers once again Martinez's competency.

Pulling a worn picture of his beautiful daughter out of the coat pocket over his heart Binger said, "That's my daughter, my pride and joy right there."

Until Brittany's alleged killer goes to trial, her father vows to carry her picture near his heart, every day.

"I carry it all the time," he said choking up. "Only thing I got left."

www.wavy.com