GOSHEN COUNTY – The Goshen County District Court came back into session for the plea change of Torrington man, Jesus Martinez (27), for his role in an alleged assault upon, Juan DeLeon, on June 11, 2023. 

Martinez had been charged with conspiracy to commit battery with a deadly weapon.

Martinez, along with three other assailants had allegedly assaulted DeLeon in south Torrington with baseball bats, causing significant bodily harm requiring immediate medical attention.

The purpose of the hearing was for the defendant to change his initial plea of not guilty to an Alford plea, signifying that the State of Wyoming possesses enough concrete evidence to render a guilty verdict in a trial while continuing to assert innocence.

District Court judge, Ed Buchanan, presided over the proceedings with Deputy Goshen County and Prosecuting Attorney, Colby Sturgeon, representing the State of Wyoming.

Cheyenne attorney, Joe Bustos, was present in representing the defense of Martinez.

Although as advised by his legal council to enter in the plea, Judge Buchanan explained in thorough detail to the defendant what in fact that particular plea indicates.

“It’s the court’s understanding today that you intend to enter an Alford plea,” Buchanan began. “You need to know as we begin this process that an Alford plea is a guilty plea. Do you understand that? It’s different than a conventional guilty plea, and an Alford plea indicates that you are denying your guilt, but rather you are seeking to obtain some benefit or avoid some potentially harsher penalties that you might receive if you went to trial and were convicted. Mr. Bustos has already told this court that there is not a plea agreement in this case.”

While nodding his head in understanding, Martinez was then addressed on behalf of his legal defense by Mr. Bustos. As previously stated by the district judge, Bustos was in full agreement with the state of Wyoming, reiterating that an Alford plea is indeed an admission of guilt.

“As the court noted an Alford plea is a guilty plea,” Bustos explained. “The alternative is to go to trial, and the state can assist in providing a factual basis. A quick summary about the evidence in this case is conspiracy to commit battery with a deadly weapon, in this case a baseball bat. There was a wallet dropped with identification, and that identification was Mr. Jesus Martinez. There was no question about injury, because ultimately Mr. DeLeon ended up at the local hospital with stitches and blood from the baseball bat contact. The defense has said my client is going to take responsibility for his acts, and that is why we are here.”

The proceeding continued promptly after the statements made by the defense, and quickly turned to the presentation of facts and evidence by the state once again represented by council, Colby Sturgeon.

As Sturgeon presented before the court, several witnesses, including the victim, were ready and prepared to testify should the court reject the plea and take the case to trial.

“That would be further collaborated and has shown that Mr. DeLeon will absolutely testify that he was walking, sees these guys coming, tries to jump a fence, gets his sweatshirt caught in the fence and is struck with a baseball bat,” Sturgeon stated. “He goes to the hospital where he has a big gash on his head, and also blacked out because of the strike with the baseball bat. We have restitution here Your Honor where we would add about 12,000 dollars worth of medical bills. Regardless he had to have a CAT scan, stitches, and all kinds of things to have this injury looked at. Your Honor we would also present testimony by these individuals that there were three other co-defendants being, Miklo Martinez, Fabien Martinez, and one still unidentified. We don’t know who that fourth individual is, but they were all in this car together. Both Mr. DeLeon saw them as well as one witness, so all of those folks will be here ready and willing to testify about what happed on that day. Those are the facts that the state will prove. The state would present both testimony and pictures of Mr. DeLeon, and the testimonies of different people all which are stated in the affidavit of probable cause.”

After listening to statements by both defense and state prosecution, Judge Buchanan made it a point before the court to address Martinez in a descriptive explanation on what entering this particular plea factually means in the state of Wyoming.

“Mr. Martinez as I started at the beginning of the hearing, our purpose is for you to change your plea,” Buchanan began. “You need to know that if you change your plea, and an Alford plea is a guilty plea. There will be no trial of any kind, and the state does not have to prove you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You will be giving up your defenses in this case, and if you plead today you are giving up any other defense that you might have had in this matter. Some other consequences that will come along with a change of plea we will establish to the courts satisfaction.”

“Mr. Martinez if you would stand for me, I’m going to then read off the charge,” Buchanan continued. “To the charge that on June 11, 2023 you violated a Wyoming statute, otherwise knowns as conspiracy to commit aggravate battery. Contrary to perform the statute, how do you plead?”

“Your Honor, we wish to enter a guilty plea pursuant to Alford,” Bustos stated.

“For the court to accept that plea, the court must accept claims of actual guilt, which this court can contest whether or not Mr. Martinez’s plea is intelligently entered,” Buchanan responded. “I’ve heard some restitution of fact that has been acknowledged by Mr. Bustos, as well as many of those same facts that would be offered up by the state at trial. The courts finds that the defendant’s decision to enter an Alford plea is voluntary, and the court will accept the Alford plea based on its findings. I will order a pre-sentence investigation report done by the Department of Probation and Parole. They will examine your life history, criminal history, really everything about it and about you so that the court is prepared to listen to the admittance in sentencing. So, those are just additional findings the court would make to support this case and get the full picture. Everything you need to know before proceeding to sentencing, you are out on bond and you are ordered to go to probation and parole immediately upon leaving today. If you fail to do so, the state can treat that as a violation of your bond as well as petition this court to revoke your bond and place you in custody. We will continue the bond as it is in place now, and will set this matter for sentencing as soon as possible. It usually takes six to eight weeks with that.”

The court stood in recess at 11:50 a.m.