I do not think this will go over well for the defendant.
Jury hears testimony in sexual assault trial
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Jurors heard opening arguments Wednesday from the attorneys of a man accused of sexually assaulting his daughter.
Danny Delgado Martinez, 36, is charged with sexual assault of a child younger than 14, a first-degree felony. The alleged incident took place Oct. 16, 2003, when the victim was 7 years old, at the home of Martinez’s in-laws.
Martinez’s daughter told jurors Wednesday that her father was at home with her two younger brothers and her sleeping grandparents, when he asked the boys to go to another room.
He then proceeded to have intercourse with his biological daughter, the victim alleged, for “a few minutes” in the darkened room. The abuse, she said, almost occurred once more, about six months later at Martinez’s trailer home near Interstate 35. The victim said she was alone with her father again when he got on top of her in bed.
She said she began to cry, and allegedly Martinez stopped and said, “I’m a bad dad,” before telling her to go to the living room.
Martinez’s attorney, Patton Zarate, maintains his client is innocent of all charges relating to the assault. The defense does acknowledge that the victim was sexually assaulted but that Martinez did not commit the crime and that the victim is confused as to who assaulted her. Zarate also noted that the victim waited until July 27, 2005 to tell anyone of the alleged assault.
On that day in 2005, the birthday of Julie Martinez’s mother, the victim wrote two letters to her mother while the family cooked. In the letters, she requested to have a meeting after supper, and then told her mother that her father sexually assaulted her and that she “didn’t want to be around him.”
Julie Martinez told jurors she found the allegations unbelievable at first but took her daughter to a bedroom and when the victim began to cry, Martinez said she began to cry as well and was joined by her mother and father, who urged her to take the victim to a hospital.
Because of the elapsed time, Zarate said, there is no forensic or DNA evidence in the trial.
The jury heard testimony for almost five hours Wednesday from the victim and the defendant’s wife, Julie Martinez, 33, of New Braunfels.
The current trial is the second time the case has been in court. The case first went to trial in July 2008 but resulted in a deadlocked jury that could not decide on a verdict.
Assistant district attorney Steven de Lemos, who is prosecuting the case, would not give further details.
The defense and state attorneys were unsure Wednesday if Martinez would testify in his own defense after prosecuting Comal County assistant district attorneys, de Lemos and Steven Harkins, contended that since he had already testified before in the previous trial that he might have waived his Fifth Amendment rights.
The trial continues today at 9 a.m. in the 207th district court with Judge Gary Steel presiding.
