Denver Judge Vacates Conviction in 1998 Murder Case

DENVER — District Attorney John Walsh today announced that, at the joint request of the Denver DA’s Office and the Korey Wise Innocence Project, Judge Andrew Luxen has vacated the murder conviction of Stephen Martinez and dismissed the charges against him.

In January of 2000, a jury convicted Martinez of “First-Degree Murder – Knowingly Causing the Death of a Child Under 12 When in a Position of Trust” in connection with the death of four-month-old Heather Lynn Mares.  Martinez was then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“The Korey Wise Innocence Project presented my office with multiple credible medical experts who challenged the initial determination that Heather’s death was caused by physical abuse.  After receiving that information, my office retained independent experts whose opinions largely confirmed those of the defense experts.  Additionally, and more importantly, the Denver medical examiner who conducted Heather’s autopsy in 1998 recently acknowledged a reasonable doubt about Heather’s cause of death.  In light of the compelling evidence now available, we did not oppose the Innocence Project’s motion to vacate Martinez’ conviction and, unable now to meet our ethical and legal burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, we were obliged to dismiss the case,” said DA Walsh.  “I want to emphasize that there was no misconduct on the part of the prosecutors or detectives who worked on the case in the late 1990s.  This is simply an example of the criminal justice system being willing and able to reassess a case when necessary.  I want to thank the prosecutors, investigators, and victim advocates from my office – most notably, Senior Deputy District Attorney Jessica Sommer from our Conviction Review Unit – for their outstanding work on this matter.”

 About the Denver DA’s Office:

The mission of the Denver DA’s Office is to protect the community, to seek equal justice for all, and to improve the quality and fairness of criminal justice on behalf of the people of Colorado. We achieve that mission through excellence in our work investigating and prosecuting crime, supporting victims and their families, working with the community to prevent crime, and providing fair alternatives to incarceration in appropriate cases.

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