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Accused serial rapist to get private defender
By Jared Allen, jallen@nashvillecitypaper.com
July 06, 2006

When accused serial rapist Ruben Hernandez Martinez makes his next court appearance in August, he will be alongside one of the Nashville area’s most tenacious criminal and civil litigators - attorney Jerry Gonzalez.

On Wednesday, Martinez appeared in court for the first time since his extradition from Mexico was completed late last month.

Martinez had been indicted in 2002 by a Davidson County grand jury on 26 counts of aggravated rape, four counts of aggravated burglary and two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping. But he had fled to his native Mexico before local authorities could arrest him.

Almost immediately after the grand jury issued the indictment, however, Mexican police arrested Martinez. He remained in custody in Mexico and was a top 10 FBI fugitive throughout the duration of four years’ worth of extradition negotiations between the United States and Mexico.

Martinez, who is being held in Davidson County jail without bond, is accused of participating in at least four separate home invasion rapes, all of which allegedly occurred between 1997 and 1998 while he was working as a day laborer in South Nashville neighborhoods.

According to the indictments, Martinez cased his victims’ homes while working as a member of various landscaping and construction crews.

Martinez had an accomplice, Luis Castanon, for at least one of the rapes. Castanon was convicted of five counts of aggravated rape and received a 60-year prison sentence.

But because the Davidson County Public Defender’s Office represented Castanon, it was unable to counsel Martinez, members of the office told Criminal Court Judge Steven Dozier on Wednesday.

So, Dozier asked court officers to find a suitable private Spanish-speaking attorney for Martinez.

Four hours later, Gonzalez appeared in court and entered a plea of not-guilty on all counts on behalf of his new client.

“I don’t know what I can tell you,” Gonzalez said after conferring only briefly with Martinez. “I haven’t even looked at the case.”

But Gonzalez is no stranger to high-profile cases, which include his defense last year of a Mexican mother who was ordered by Wilson County Judge Barry Tatum to learn English and take birth control or “[run] the risk of losing any connection — legally, morally and physically — with her daughter forever.”

Gonzalez said his first order of business will be reviewing the transcripts and evidence presented in the Castanon case.

“And I heard there was some discussion of DNA evidence,” Gonzalez said, who noted that preparing a defense will take some time.

“There’s a good chance that by August, the DAs and I still won’t have anything to talk about,” Gonzalez said.




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Thursday, 07/06/06

Extradited serial-rape suspect pleads not guilty

By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer


Former FBI Top Ten Fugitive Ruben Hernandez Martinez, who is accused of being a serial rapist, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 26 counts of rape.

The former Nashville construction worker, who was jailed two weeks ago after a four-year extradition process, is accused of terrorizing women in south Nashville in a series of armed home invasions and rapes in 1997-1998.

On at least one occasion, authorities said, Martinez was not alone.

He and Luis Castanan were accused of attacking a woman at knifepoint after invading her Edmondson Pike apartment on the night of May 17, 1998. Castanan was convicted of his role in the crime and sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Martinez, 38, fled to his home country, Mexico, and was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on May 1, 2002. He was arrested the next day but didn't return to Nashville to face charges until two weeks ago. Authorities said he was in the country illegally at the time of the crimes.

He is also charged with four counts of aggravated burglary, two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, one count of attempted rape and one count of fleeing the Nashville jurisdiction.

Martinez, 38, entered the plea through his lawyer, Nashville attorney Jerry Gonzalez. •