EVERETT — A prosecutor’s recent clicks with a computer mouse may have put in jeopardy the case against a former Monroe police sergeant accused of sex crimes with a girl he met long ago while teaching a drug-education class.
Carlos Alberto Martinez, 61, was scheduled to be on trial this week, facing multiple counts of child molestation and other offenses.
Instead, he won a victory Wednesday in Snohomish County Superior Court, one that raises the possibility that charges could be dismissed.
Longtime Everett defense attorney Mark Mestel contends that Martinez’s constitutional right to legal counsel was violated by Lisa Paul, an equally seasoned deputy prosecutor.
At issue are emails Paul reviewed Sept. 10, including some that were between Martinez and a civil attorney who represented the defendant in a 2010 divorce.
Viewing those records violated attorney-client privilege, and dismissing the charges is the appropriate remedy, Mestel contends.
The criminal charges against Martinez were filed in 2013. Paul presented Judge Michael Downes with declarations and emails that document her concerns over the years about respecting attorney client confidentiality in the case. The pleadings also show she and her staff made repeated, collegial attempts to get Mestel to review the emails and flag any concerns.
The defense attorney never identified materials she should avoid. Paul said she didn’t anticipate a problem until Mestel complained and moved for dismissal on the eve of trail.
She told the judge she had believed the defense’s actions over time had amounted to an implied waiver of attorney-client privilege. She’s since come to suspect it was part of a strategy to undermine the case.
“The point was for me to step in it,” she said.
Mestel insisted he hid no traps. He blamed lack of progress in reviewing the records on computer problems and his busy schedule.
The more than 6,000 emails are part of the trove of records seized when search warrants were served on Martinez’s computers and email accounts.
The former Monroe School Board member is accused of instigating a sexual relationship in 2003 with a then-14-year-old girl.
Martinez had been the police officer who taught drug education for the girl’s elementary school classes in Monroe. Now in her 20s, she told investigators that the pair would sometimes have sex while Martinez was on duty.
Martinez denied abusing the girl, and told Washington State Patrol detectives he didn’t have sex with her until she was 18, court papers said. He left the Monroe Police Department in 2009 because he was about to be fired after being accused of assaulting his wife. That same year, Martinez separated from his wife and moved to Texas with the girl. She went to police in Texas in 2011.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Downes said he was not persuaded the defense had waived attorney-client privilege. Further, he didn’t believe there was evidence of a defense attempt to trap the prosecution.
He said the concerns about attorney-client issues raised in the emails went unresolved because lawyers on both sides of the case are “extraordinarily busy people, unbelievably busy people.”
Downes asked the attorneys to prepare for more hearings in the coming days to explore exactly what materials were seen by the prosecution.
Paul earlier asked the court to order an independent review of her examination of the email files. A detective trained in computer forensics has been conducting that effort.
Mestel, meanwhile, said he may want to question the prosecutor under oath.
“Until we know what she reviewed — or will never know what she reviewed — it is hard to take the next step,” Mestel said.
The controversy needs resolved before moving ahead, the judge said.
“The whole thing could have dramatic impact on the case,” Downes said.
Scott North: 425-339-3431; north@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snorthnews.
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