In a grim admission, Tucson man Pablo Martinez, Jr. has pleaded guilty to the heinous murder of a six-year-old child, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona reported. The 36-year-old perpetrator accepted responsibility for the September 2019 killing, which occurred in a domestic setting grimly turned crime scene. Martinez now faces a potential life sentence and a quarter-million dollar fine after his scheduled sentencing this July.
During his bath-time role as guardian, Martinez pressed the child’s face under a running faucet for a period ranging from five to ten agonizing minutes, prosecutors detailed. The act resulted in the child, a member of the Pascua Yaqui Indian Tribe, inhaling water, causing deadly liquid thermal burns. The case, no. CR-19-2617-TUC-SHR was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in cooperation with the Pascua Yaqui Police Department.
Second-degree murder, the charge to which Martinez confessed, comes with severe consequences: maximum life imprisonment, a fine up to $250,000, and a subsequent five years of supervised release. The details of the case, outlined in a press release available on the U.S. Attorney's Office website, lay bare the cruel nature of the crime.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frances M. Kreamer Hope and Matthew C. Cassell are heading the prosecution, surely aware of the case’s gravity and the community’s need for justice. Martinez is slated to receive his sentence from United States District Judge Scott H. Rash on July 5, 2024. Until then, the question remains: Will a courtroom’s ruling bring closure to a tragic tale of innocence lost?
