Jury convicts Fabian Gonzales on all counts
Aug. 1—Jurors on Monday found Fabian Gonzales guilty of child abuse resulting in death and other charges he was facing in connection with the death of 10-year-old Victoria Martens in 2016.
In tears, Victoria Martens' grandparents embraced the case's lead investigator just after the verdict was read.
The trial against Gonzales, 37, began July 13 in 2nd Judicial District Court, where Judge Cindy Leos is presiding.
The jury of 10 women and two men deliberated for just about three hours, quickly sifting through more than two weeks of testimony before reaching the decision.
Gonzales, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 last week in the final stages of his trial, returned to court Monday as the verdict was read. He appeared in a small room behind the defense table, where plexiglass separated him from the rest of the courtroom.
He had no noticeable reaction as the verdict was read. His defense team did not object to him being taken into custody immediately. Gonzales is facing between 18 and 40 1/2 years in prison, said Chief Deputy District Attorney James Grayson.
He had attended the last two days of his trial virtually.
Prosecutors argued that although Gonzales didn't kill Victoria, he set in motion a series of events that created a dangerous environment which ultimately led to her death. Gonzales was dating Michelle Martens, Victoria's mother, and had recently moved into their Northwest Albuquerque apartment.
"The defendant set the stage for her death to occur. And he turned her home into a dangerous place," Deputy District Attorney Greer Staley said during her closing argument. "Her world was changing as soon as he set foot in her apartment."
Stephen Aarons, Gonzales' attorney, in his closing argument asked the jury not to become overcome with emotions over Victoria's horrific death.
The young girl was killed in her apartment on her 10th birthday, and then her body was mutilated and dismembered in an effort to conceal the crime, prosecutors argued.
Gonzales had allowed his cousin, Jessica Kelley, to stay at the Martens' apartment shortly after Kelley was released from prison. Police during the course of the years-long investigation determined that Martens and Gonzales were not at the home when Victoria was killed, but they arrived later that night.
"I would tell you, this is not a complicated case, it's actually fairly easy to solve. But emotion can overwhelm that," Aarons said during his closing argument. "There is an urge to flush anyone and everyone remotely connected down the toilet."
Aarons said they will appeal the verdict.
"It's hard to get past your emotions in a case like this," he said outside the courtroom. "And I think that those emotions overwhelmed this jury."
Originally charged with murder and rape in the case, Gonzales was convicted of child abuse, recklessly caused, resulting in the death of a child under 12 a child abuse charge as well as seven counts of tampering with evidence and conspiracy to tamper with evidence.
Prosecutors said that Victoria was killed by either an unknown man, possibly because the man had a vendetta against Gonzales, or Kelley, who was using methamphetamine and acting paranoid before Gonzales and Martens left Victoria alone with Kelley.
Gonzales' attorneys argued that Kelley killed Victoria and then acted alone to try to cover up the crime.
"The person who killed little Victoria made a plea bargain and testified falsely in this case. And, she's probably laughing now at the fact that the state of New Mexico accepted her version of what happened," Aarons said. "I thought we had disproved that, but I think emotions ruled the day."
A man identified as John Doe has been indicted on charges connected with Victoria's death based on his DNA profile.
"Your job here today is to determine if that defendant set this whole thing in motion," Staley said in her closing. "If he created this transformation of Victoria's world into this place where something terrible was going to happen, and it was obvious something's going to happen."
Kelley pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to 44 years in prison, though she will be eligible for parole in half that time. Martens pleaded guilty to a child abuse charge in an agreement that calls for her be sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison. Her sentencing hearing hasn't been scheduled.
"There was over 500 exhibits and three weeks of testimony. It's shocking that they came back so quickly, but it's clear all 12 were ready from the moment they walked in there," Aarons said. "They knew what they wanted to do. And you know, I understand their feelings."
