Duece Martinez pleaded guilty in five out of the 11 cases he faced Thursday in Montezuma County Court. Martinez appeared via Webex from Archuleta County, where he has other open cases.
Martinez’s new attorney, Allen Wintlock, also appeared via Webex.
Wintlock told Judge William Furse they were seeking a global resolution in all the cases. Martinez would be entering pleas in five cases, and the others would be dropped, per the plea agreement. The Archuleta County cases are expected to be resolved Thursday, Dec. 19.
Wintlock went on to describe the proposed pleas to Furse, adding that Martinez’s inpatient treatment is “more or less set up,” but they are waiting for bed space.
In Martinez’s case that involves assault in the 3rd degree, his plea included 18 months, among other stipulations. The other assault case would also require 18 months of supervised probation.
Each of the protection order violation pleas come with 12 months of supervised probation, with one of the violations requiring an alcohol evaluation and treatment recommendations.
“He’s on the precipice of habitual filings,” Furse said, adding that Martinez was at a “crossroads at his life.”
After listening to Wintlock, Furse said he would accept the global pleas, but without a deferred judgment in the misdemeanor case.
The court then took a brief break to allow Wintlock to speak with Martinez before entering his pleas.
When they reconvened, Furse spoke of Martinez’s alleged probation violation, asking him if he wished to admit that he had violated his probation, or if he wanted to go to a hearing where prosecutors would have to prove Martinez had violated it.
In response to Furse’s question, Martinez admitted that he had violated his probation, thus revoking the probationary sentence in that particular case.
As Furse started moving through Martinez’s other cases, Martinez didn’t remember the specifics, as Furse was only referencing the case number. In response, Furse gave more details about each case so Martinez would know what was being discussed.
In the first case presented, third-degree assault, Martinez was alleged to have assaulted Lillian Uptain in June. Martinez said he was guilty.
The second case took place on July 4. Martinez admitted he was guilty of eluding police and driving a vehicle with a restrained license for alcohol related reasons, and said he was guilty when asked about his case where he violated his protection order by contacting Uptain from jail in August while the protection order was in place.
The third case involved Martinez violating another protection order by drinking alcohol. He said he was guilty in this case as well.
Before Furse could move on to the last case in need of a plea, it was brought up that there was concern Martinez was admitting guilt without fully knowing what he was doing in an attempt to get out of jail sooner. Furse said he would address this after discussing the last case with Martinez.
The final case took place in August and involved assault and domestic violence of Uptain. Furse shared that Uptain had called the police from the Cozy Inn in August, where she and Martinez were staying at the time.
“Guilty,” Martinez said.
Before Furse accepted Martinez’s pleas, he went through Martinez’s rights and the effect the plea deals would have on him. Martinez said he understood.
Furse “tentatively” accepted the pleas with “trepidation” and closed the active warrant in Martinez’s juvenile case, as it was closed after the acceptance of the pleas.
Martinez is set to appear in Montezuma County for his next hearing on Jan. 27 at 9 a.m.
