SAN ANTONIO — A family is furious after the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office dropped capital murder charges in the death of an officer, and bargained with his accused killers.
Detective Cliff Martinez was 28-year veteran with the San Antonio Independent School District. His brother, Dennis Martinez, says he was just one year away from retirement when he was murdered.
"Cliff was more than my brother, he was my best friend,” said Dennis. “Cliff protected his school district; that’s just who Cliff was. He was a hero in every sense of how he lived his life. He was just an amazing man.”
In 2019, Det. Martinez was working as a security guard at a southeast IHOP when a fight broke out. According to police, he intervened and was assaulted. The struggle continued in the parking lot where Det. Martinez was run over by a vehicle twice.
Alfredo Martinez-Contreras and Jorge Lopez were both charged with capital murder.
“Before we even get to capital murder, we would have to be able to prove murder; that a person intentionally or knowingly committed murder,” said Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales.
Gonzales says the evidence didn’t support the charges.
Lopez, the suspected driver, accepted a plea deal for manslaughter last year.
This week, Martinez-Contreras received a plea deal for assault of a public servant. Gonzales says there’s no evidence that links him to the scene at the time of Det. Martinez’ death.
“We are just really frustrated by it,” said Dennis. “There’s nothing we can do when the state tells me, ‘We don’t really care what the family wants.’ This is a reoccurring pattern in a lot of cities across the country, which is why crime is so rampant and why police officers feel like they have targets on their backs.”
Dennis believes politics are at play.
“It is virtually impossible to seek the maximum punishment on every case,” said Gonzales. “We handle about 60,000 cases a year. If we were to seek incarceration on every one of them, our jails would be full. We have to use our discretion. I have brought criminal justice reform, but the reform applies to low-level, non-violent offenses. Certainly not cases like this.”
Gonzales says the plea deals ensured prison time.
“I understand the family’s frustration and my heart goes out to them,” said Gonzales. “The decisions that we made were based on the facts of the case after our prosecutors’ careful analysis.”
However, with body camera footage, surveillance video and witness testimony, Dennis believes the case should have gone to trial.
“The community loved Cliff,” said Dennis. “I would take their jury over any DA cutting a plea deal. Every single day we wake up with this pain, every single day we relive his death. His killers are going to be out on parole in – who knows when. But that’s the way the system is working right now. All we can do is stand up and say, ‘Stop it.’”
For comparison, capital murder carries either a life sentence without parole or death by injection. Lopez is facing 20 years in jail for manslaughter.
Judge Meza sentenced Martinez-Contreras to 15 years for assault on Monday.