Mental illness focus of defense in hit-and-run bench trial

April 29--Penny Valadez recalled in the 364th District Court Thursday her confusion about two years ago when her daughter told her that her eldest son, Matthew, had been killed.

"Who would kill Matt?" she said. "Everybody liked him."

Then she learned her son was involved in a hit-and-run collision while he was jogging in West Lubbock.

"Somebody just left him? As a mom, that's hard to take," she said.

Penny Valadez and her son, Joseph, were among three witnesses the state prosecutor called to testify before Judge William Eichman who will decide the punishment for 29-year-old Maria Martinez.

Martinez, who is out on bond, entered an open plea of guilty in March to a charge of failure to stop and render aid. She faces a punishment between two to 20 years in prison.

She admitted to striking and killing 38-year-old Matthew Valadez with her vehicle then leaving the scene without calling police.

Her attorney, Luke Jordan, told Eichman his client suffers from mental illness and should be placed on deferred adjudication with a condition she receive treatment. He said it wouldn't be fair to incarcerate her.

"The reason she acted that way was because of her mental illness," he said.

In his closing argument, prosecutor Tom Brummett said Martinez displayed a callous disregard for human life and should be held accountable for her actions. He said she and should be incarcerated so she wouldn't hurt anyone else.

"When you leave, hide and lie, you have to be held accountable," he said.

Eichman said he will announce his decision next week saying he faced a difficult decision as there are two competing factors. He extended his sympathies to both the Valadez and Martinez families.

"I don't think doing it immediately .... would be appropriate," he said.

During the bench trial, Lubbock police officer Nathan Meil said he responded about 8 a.m. on July 15, 2014, to a dead body call at the intersection of 19th Street and Iola Avenue. He said a man, later identified as Valadez, was found lying on the street, his shoes were knocked off his feet and flew in opposite directions. Vehicle debris was scattered around the scene indicating Valadez was in a hit and run collision.

Valadez's family members were in tears as the officer described the scene.

Jospeh Valadez said his brother was an athletic person and was training for a marathon.

He said the pain from his older brother's death hurts just as much today as it did three years ago when he learned about it.

"It still hits every morning," he said.

Investigators traced the debris at the scene and believed it to come from a early 2000 Nissan Xterra SUV and police officials released a media alert.

The next day, a Crime Line tip led investigators to an auto repair shop that had front-end damage consistent with a collision. Police searched the vehicle and found a pay-day loan agreement for that day, which Brummett believes was to pay for fixing the vehicle.

Meil said officers found more broken parts inside the SUV and a white t-shirt they believed was used to wipe dirt from the SUV.

The vehicle's registration indicated Martinez owned the vehicle.

Meil said he and another officer met with Martinez at her home. He said Martinez admitted to driving her vehicle on Iola Avenue about the time Valadez was killed but told them repeatedly she hit a light pole. Meil said Martinez told him she was taking her phone out of her bag while driving on Iola Avenue and felt her vehicle strike something. She said she stopped and exited her vehicle to assess the damage then drove away believing she had hit a light pole.

Meil said he checked every light pole on Iola Avenue between 19th and 24th streets and found none were damaged.

Jordan called on counselor Kathy Irwin, who worked with Martinez during court-ordered competency restoration sessions.

Irwin told the court she believed Martinez suffered from an array of mental illnesses including, dissociative disorder, general anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder and major depression.

She said she believed Martinez possessed average intelligence but had child-like behavior who sees the world as a simplistic place.

Martinez's mental health issues stem from a traumatic childhood, Irwin said but did not go into detail about it.

Martinez's initial insistence to officers that she hit a pole and not a was a manifestation of the defendant's dissociative disorder, she said.

"She was freaking out," Irwin said.

Irwin said she believed incarceration will not rehabilitate Martinez, who she said had a compliant nature suited for probation.

"I feel that she's very remorseful," she said.

However, she admitted during Brummett's cross examination, that incarceration would hold Martinez accountable for her actions.

Jordan also called on Martinez's father, Robert, who said he and his wife both suffer from cancer and depend heavily on Martinez, who is the youngest of their children.

He said his daughter also pays child support for her 5-year-old daughter.

While Martinez's mental illnesses have been the focus of the defense, Brummett told Eichman Valadez's family now also suffer from depression and anxiety because of her actions.

"That is a hole in their heart that will never go away," he said.

Penny Valadez said since her son's death she only leaves her home for doctor's appointments. She said she's become withdrawn and takes depression medication.

"People think I'm mad. I just don't want to talk to people," she said.

She said her husband has never visited their son's grave and would burst into sobs when he thinks about him,

"He cannot stand the thought of him being buried because he was so full of life," she said.

gabriel.monte@lubbockonline.com

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