Sparring with her from across the stand, Martinez came to know Arias like no one else could, dissecting what it took for a seemingly normal girl to become a deluded, cunning, and unrepentant murderer. Some of his most noteworthy cases include Arizona v. Wendi Andriano , who was convicted of first-degree murder and was the first woman sentenced to death by a jury in Arizona; Arizona v.
The Republic also reported how past county attorneys, judges and regulators at the State Bar of Arizona wrote off allegations of misconduct and reports of sexual harassment against Martinez. Martinez's career unraveled after the Jodi Arias trial , where he was accused of ethical misconduct, including disseminating confidential information about a juror to his blogger girlfriend, sexting with an ex-juror, harassing a court reporter and lying during a State Bar investigation.
Martinez agreed to be disbarred July 17 , ending a State Bar investigation into the allegations involving the Arias trial and claims that he sexually harassed co-workers at the County Attorney's Office.
Martinez's attorney and the County Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to The Republic's requests for comment. For more stories that matter, subscribe to azcentral. In his page report , Harold Merkow said Martinez's supervisors rightfully decided his "value to the organization is fatally eroded by his retaliation against female employees and the likelihood that it would persist. Merkow's report included information from an internal county investigation launched in that remains under seal by court order and still is not available to the public.
According to the report, Martinez for years was accused of targeting female law clerks and, in his final days on the job, was accused of harassing two women who previously complained about him. Martinez claimed the county attorney's office had a vendetta against him. Merkow said firing Martinez was neither arbitrary nor capricious.
He said Martinez disregarded the reprimand he received in and said there was a reasonable prospect Martinez would "continue to retaliate against female employees," regardless of which bureau or floor he was assigned to work.
A representative of the County Attorney's Office on Tuesday told the commission the hearing officer's report was thorough and the only remaining issue was if Vick, the chief deputy, had the authority to terminate Martinez. Lopez IV wrote in the opinion. In March, the Arizona Court of Appeals stated in a ruling that despite Martinez's actions in the Arias trial, Arias would remain in prison for killing her some-time boyfriend Travis Alexander. The Court of Appeals cited a pattern of misconduct, saying that Martinez's "belligerent conduct" began before opening statements.
The Court of Appeals said it strongly disapproved of Martinez's actions and that an attorney should not escape personal accountability. Judge Kenton D. Jones called Martinez's behavior, "persistent, pervasive, inappropriate and unprofessional. He wrote that Martinez's actions were "a clear abuse of his ethical duties" and said he was left dissatisfied by the serious questions raised by the prosecutor's misconduct, "which has previously been raised with the State Bar yet remains unanswered.
Martinez worked at the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for more than 30 years. When Gov. Doug Ducey appointed Montgomery to be a justice on the Arizona Supreme Court in September, Martinez was transferred to the auto-theft division out of the capital litigation bureau.
Chief Deputy Rachel Mitchell stated the move was made to give Martinez more time to focus on his ethics complaints. Martinez, I felt it was important to assign him a caseload that would be more flexible and allow him to take time when needed to focus on resolving these complaints," Mitchell stated.
Martinez has also been under fire for his actions during the Jodi Arias trial. State bar charges filed against him indicate he leaked sealed information to a blogger whom he was having an affair with, during the sentencing phase of the Arias trial.
His case had been referred to an independent counsel and was pending, but will not proceed now that Martinez has been disbarred.
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