He was accused of killing policeman Benedicto Coy on Christmas Eve of 2005, but today a jury of 10 men and 2 women declared Gregory Martinez not guilty. Corporal Coy and Constable Castellanos were in plainclothes trying near Lion King when it happened. They were trying to park, but are rpeorted to have gotten into a fight with Martinez, which ended when Martinez allegedly stabbed Coy in the chest and Castellanos in the rib cage. The police thought it was an airtight case, but the prosecution did not convince the jury. Martinez's defense attorney Mike Peyrefitte told us why he believes justice has been served.
Michael Peyrefitte, Defense Attorney
"The verdict just said all twelve reasonable men that looked just like you and me, men and women that look like me and you from the streets decided that he was not guilty. A person is innocent until proven guilty and today Greg Martinez was innocent all day. He was put into the hands of the jury and the jury said that he is still innocent. That is the system we have, that is the system we have to live by.
He has been acquitted on all three possible charges. He could have been found either guilty of murder or manslaughter or grievous harm against PC Castellanos. From the evidence that actually came out that the jury had to look at, despite all the hype about it, it could have gone either way and luckily for Greg Martinez it went his way.
It tells the Police Department that you can't take certain cases for granted because they thought it was a slam dunk but we did not think it was a slam dunk from the very beginning and all credit goes to Greg Martinez who upon receiving the plea offer, rejected the plea offer and then we just went ahead and we proceeded with the case itself."
Senior Crown Counsel Merlene Moody prosecuted. Martinez cannot be retried.
