A Springfield man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for a 2023 street shooting that killed one neighbor and wounded another. Hiram Martinez, 41, was sentenced Monday to life in state prison without the possibility of parole after a Hampden County jury convicted him of first-degree murder in the death of 34-year-old James Brown.
Martinez was found guilty on Oct. 2 following a jury trial, according to WWLP. Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni announced the sentencing, saying Martinez followed Brown and a second man, Bruce Bodiford, through the streets of Springfield before opening fire, killing Brown and wounding Bodiford. Both men lived in Springfield at the time of the shooting.
At Martinez’s request, the court agreed to delay execution of his sentence until Dec. 3, despite an objection from prosecutors. Until then, he is set to remain at the Franklin County House of Correction before his transfer to state prison.
A Shooting That Shook a Springfield Block
The shooting happened around 9:18 p.m. near 38 School St. in Springfield, when police responded to reports of gunfire, per the station's report. Brown and Bodiford were both found with gunshot wounds and taken to Baystate Medical Center, where Brown was pronounced dead. Reporting on the exact date of the shooting has varied — the sentencing coverage and other accounts cite June 24, 2023, while a MassLive report on Martinez's indictment described the fatal shooting as occurring June 23, 2023.
Springfield police detectives built their case around surveillance footage that showed Martinez following the two men through the neighborhood shortly before the shooting, the same account notes. Investigators said they identified Martinez using that footage along with vehicle registration information and a transaction he made at a nearby store before the shooting. A search of a Toyota Camry connected to Martinez turned up clothing consistent with what the shooter was seen wearing on camera.
Prosecutors Credit the Investigative Team
Gulluni commended Springfield police detectives and the prosecution team for their work building the case, and he specifically recognized Assistant District Attorney Christopher McDonald for securing the conviction. The Commonwealth was represented at trial by Assistant District Attorneys McDonald and William Joyce, along with victim witness advocate Kristin Welch.
The case unfolded during a particularly violent stretch for Springfield. Gulluni has said roughly 12 murders occurred in the area of School, Spring and High Streets alone during the first half of 2023, according to Western Mass News. The city recorded 31 murders that year, a figure MassLive described as a record for Springfield homicides, before the total dropped to 17 in 2024 — a decrease of nearly 50%.
A Broader Push Against Gun Violence
Springfield police have been contending with a surge in gun seizures alongside the homicide spike, taking in 225 firearms in 2021, 341 in 2022 and 348 in 2023, according to MassLive. The outlet also reported that gunfire wounded or killed 162 people across the city during 2023 and the first half of 2024, underscoring the scale of violence investigators were confronting as they built the case against Martinez. With his sentencing now finalized, Martinez is expected to be transferred from the Franklin County House of Correction to state prison on Dec. 3.
