Judge to decide future of sex crime case against ex-police sergeant

EVERETT — A Snohomish County judge was expected to rule Wednesday morning whether a prosecutor’s review of emails between a divorce lawyer and a former Monroe police sergeant accused of sex crimes was a harmless intrusion on attorney-client privilege or an error that has hopelessly undermined the defendant’s right to a fair trial.

Carlos Alberto Martinez, 61, is facing multiple counts of child molestation and other offenses. His lawyer, longtime Everett defense attorney Mark Mestel, has asked Superior Court Judge Michael Downes to dismiss the case.

Mestel maintains that Martinez’s constitutional right to legal counsel was violated Sept. 10 when deputy prosecutor Lisa Paul reviewed emails between Martinez and a civil attorney. The lawyer had represented the defendant in a 2010 divorce and the emails were among thousands of records seized under a search warrant.

Downes last week ruled that Paul did not have permission to review the material.

“It is up to the state to show there is no prejudice in this case,” Mestel told Downes during a hearing Tuesday.

He said case law is clear that prosecutors must demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt — the same legal standard they must prove to win a conviction — that Martinez’s rights to a fair trial were not compromised. That’s impossible, Mestel said, because there is no verifiable way to show which emails Paul examined.

A Lynnwood police detective’s forensic examination of the digital records Paul reviewed didn’t resolve the controversy.

Paul on Tuesday continued to maintain that Mestel had given her tacit approval to examine the emails, all of which focused on Martinez’s divorce. The prosecutor said she stopped looking when one of the messages she saw made reference to a videocassette tape.

The prosecutor said she was concerned that email might be discussing a video recording that Martinez allegedly made of a then-teenage girl as she stepped from a shower. The defendant is charged with voyeurism and possession of child pornography in connection with that recording.

“I’m the one who brought this to the attention of everyone. There’s nothing sneaky going on,” Paul said.

Mestel on Tuesday made clear he wasn’t questioning Paul’s motivations.

“I’m not asserting anything was done maliciously,” he said.

Downes spent part of Tuesday making a careful record of the materials he’s reviewed. In addition to pleadings filed by both sides, he’s pored over thousands of emails, now under seal to protect the defendant’s attorney-client rights.

He told lawyers they can expect his decision Wednesday. Aside from dismissing the charges or letting the case proceed to trial as is, the judge also could rule that Paul must step aside and another deputy prosecutor take over. Trial is now scheduled for later this month.

Martinez is accused of starting up a sexual relationship in 2003 with a then-14-year-old girl. He’d met her years earlier when he 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 resigned from the Monroe Police Department in 2009. That same year, he separated from his wife and moved to Texas with the girl. She went to police in Texas in 2011. Martinez told investigators he didn’t start having sex with her until she was 18.

Scott North: 425-339-3431; north@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snorthnews.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Lynnwood
Crash in Lynnwood blocks Highway 99 south

The crash, on Highway 99 at 176th Street SW, fully blocked southbound lanes. Traffic was diverted to 168th Street SW.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Search underway to find missing Everett child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday morning at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.