Monroe man seeks 3rd trial in Monroe homicide case after ‘juror 14’ arrested

Published 5:26 pm Friday, April 24, 2026

EVERETT — A Monroe man is seeking a third trial following his second-degree murder conviction on April 10 after one of the jurors from that trial was arrested three days later.

In the seven years since Kevin Rodriguez, 35, was charged in connection with attacking three men with butcher knives and killing one, the legal proceedings have experienced a series of continuances. In 2021, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge sentenced Rodriguez to more than 20 years in prison, but more than two years later, the state Court of Appeals tossed the manslaughter conviction for the Monroe man due to improper jury instruction.

In the motion submitted earlier this week, Rodriguez’s attorney listed various reasons to warrant a new trial, including law enforcement arresting Juror 14 on April 13. Court documents show Juror 14 is believed to be the same person accused of forcing himself inside an Everett residence and stabbing a 45-year-old woman and her 18-year-old daughter.

The suspect, a 20-year-old man, reportedly claimed he was “sent by Jesus,” according to the The Daily Herald’s previous coverage. The woman’s 22-year-old daughter was able to put the man in a chokehold until law enforcement arrived.

Law enforcement booked the suspect in the Snohomish County Jail on suspicion of two counts of first-degree assault and one count of first-degree burglary.

One of the victims reportedly said she believed the suspect has schizophrenia, according to an exhibit filed with the motion.

Rodriguez’s case

Around 9 p.m. Feb. 9, 2019, Evodio Garcia Martinez, 56, was asleep on the couch in his Monroe apartment when several of his roommates left for the Tulalip Resort Casino, court documents said. Garcia Martinez often slept with a blanket covering his face to muffle the noise of his roommates.

Around four hours later, the roommates left the casino. Upon their return home, one of the men opened his bedroom door to find Rodriguez with two butcher knives and his face obscured by a baseball cap and a bandana. Rodriguez slashed the man across the face. Another roommate suffered a knife wound to his shoulder and elbow.

Two of the roommates retreated out the front door. Rodriguez locked them out before heading toward the remaining roommates, who reportedly armed themselves with a vacuum cleaner, according to charging documents.

During the struggle, the group bumped into the couch multiple times, resulting in the blanket sliding off and revealing that Garcia Martinez had suffered multiple stab wounds. Photographs of the blanket appeared to show several knife-sized cuts, indicating it was covering the victim during the stabbing, prosecutors wrote in court filings.

Around 2:26 a.m., Monroe officers responded to the incident, court documents said. Upon arrival, officers discovered the roommates had disarmed Rodriguez and tied his wrists with copper wire.

First responders pronounced Garcia Martinez deceased at the scene and transported Rodriguez to the hospital. He was reportedly talking continuously, although little made sense except for one statement.

“I hurt him, I hurt him,” Rodriguez reportedly told police.

Inside Rodriguez’s jacket pocket, officers found a crumpled piece of foil and a lighter.

An autopsy of Garcia Martinez revealed the victim had suffered 10 to 20 wounds to his face, a large wound to his neck, and several others to his torso, arms, hands and feet, court documents said.

Prosecutors initially charged Rodriguez with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon enhancement and two counts of second-degree assault. In 2021, prosecutors amended Count 1, raising it to first-degree murder.

On the witness stand in 2021, Rodriguez told the court he acted in self-defence because Garcia Martinez had stood up and pointed a gun at him. He testified that his memory was fuzzy. Law enforcement was unable to locate a gun at the scene or at any point during the investigation.

He also told the court he had used methamphetamine that night and had a history of drug and alcohol abuse.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Mark Koenen told the court that methamphetamine has the potential to induce psychotic symptoms in users, including hallucinations, according to The Daily Herald’s previous coverage.

The jury acquitted Rodriguez of first-degree murder but left the verdict for second-degree murder blank, court documents said. Ultimately, they found him guilty of first-degree manslaughter and both assault counts.

The day of the sentencing, the defense filed a notice that they planned to appeal the case.

In a 2023 mandate, the court of appeals wrote that evidence presented at trial “created an inference” where jurors could have found Rodriguez guilty of second-degree manslaughter instead. But, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Bruce Weiss declined to instruct the jury on manslaughter in the second degree.

First-degree manslaughter is classified as an individual’s reckless actions resulting in the death of another, whereas in the second degree, it’s their negligence. The jury was given instructions based on recklessness.

In the initial trial, one juror wrote to the court expressing confusion over possible charges.

“If we can’t decide between the degrees in 1 charge, does it automatically go to the lesser degree? Must it [be] unanimous?” the juror wrote.

In 2024, Rodriguez decided to represent himself, citing a difference in trial strategy between his attorney and himself in the 2021 trial, referring to the situation in court documents as a “legal nightmare.”

In late January, Rodriguez requested a continuance to obtain new counsel, stating he was just told that the amended information included a second-degree murder charge instead of manslaughter and that his trial strategy was “not good enough for this case.” The third amended information was dated Jan. 13, but filed in open court Jan. 26, court documents said.

In a 2024 waiver of counsel signed by Rodriguez, the word manslaughter in the second-degree manslaughter charge is crossed out to read murder.

Karim Merchant, Rodriguez’s stand-by counsel at the time, took over.

After 17 days, the trial that came to a close on April 10, when a jury found Rodriguez guilty of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon special verdict.

In addition to the motion for a new trial, Merchant filed a motion for arrest of judgment, where the court stops a judgment due to lack of jurisdiction, the complaint does not charge a crime, or insufficient proof of a material element of a crime.

The reasons in the motions against the recent conviction alleged insufficient physical evidence, challenged the credibility of testimonies and cited juror misconduct.

Despite experts testifying that there would be blood spray on whoever inflicted a cut to the victim’s throat, the victim’s blood was not on the front of Rodriguez’s jacket and boots, the defense wrote in the filings.

A medical examiner calculated a broad window for the time of death, approximately 24 hours, with a margin of plus or minus 12 hours, court documents said

When pressed, the medical examiners reportedly said it was possible the victim could have been alive for more than 48 hours before examination, court documents said. The motion argues that this alleges the roommates left for the casino after his death.

The motion argues that other pieces of evidence, such as an investigator’s not dusting potential prints on a butcher knife and a lack of blanket fibers on the wounds and knives, are further reasons for an arrest of judgment.

Additionally, the motions argue that investigators and prosecutors failed to look into the credibility of Garcia Martinez’s roommates and excluded from the crime scene a vehicle belonging to one roommate, containing a knife with a reddish-brown substance on it, court documents said.

Two investigators testified that they viewed the knife, but described it in different ways, court documents said.

The motion calls into question whether Rodriguez’s testimony reflected actual memory due to blunt force trauma and drug and alcohol use contributing to him having “very little memory of what occurred,” court documents said.

The motion also calls for a new trial for the assault convictions in 2021 due to a witness’s testimony not heard at the first trial that alleges the roommates used weapons, not improvised defenses as initially claimed.

In the motion for a new trial, the defense requests at a minimum that an evidentiary hearing be held to investigate Juror 14’s mental state during trial and deliberation, court documents said.

Rodriguez’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 13 before Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Cindy Larsen.

Jenna Millikan: 425-339-3035; jenna.millikan@heraldnet.com; X: @JennaMillikan