Rafael Martinez, Jr. Trial - Witness List Quick Links

 This page will be periodically updated. Sprocket

Witnesses who testified in the Rafael Martinez, Jr. Trial.
Rafael Martinez QUICK LINKS Page

Note:
May 2001stabbings:
Luz Nieves and Francisco Santos victims. Nieves murdered, Santos survived.
September 1997 stabbings:
Shawn and Nancy Boehm, murdered.

Day 4
Prosecution Witnesses
1. HUGH MARTIN - LAPD - Firefighter-Paramedic. Responded to the scene of a stabbing in May 2001. Victims Luz Nieves and Francisco Santos. Translated victim's statement in the ambulance for officer Anderson. Victim stated "Junebug" when asked who did this.

2. RAFFI DJABOURIAN, MD - Senior Deputy Medical Examiner for Los Angeles County Coroner. Performed the post-mortem on victim Luz Nieves in 2001.

3. SEAN ANDERSON - LAPD Officer. Responded to the 2001 stabbing scene. Rode in the ambulance with victim Nieves to the hospital. Asked victim who did this to her.

Day 5
4. GABRIEL COLON - LAPD Officer. Responded to the 2001 event where Nieves and Santos were stabbed.



Day 5, Part II & Day 5, Part III
5. FRANCISO SANTOS - Surviving victim of May 2001 knife attack. Testified as to what he remembers happened to him and Luz Nieves.

Day 5, Part III

6 RICHARD HOUSEHOLDER - Retired LAPD Detective. Part of the investigation of the September 1997 stabbing deaths of Nancy and Shawn Boehm. Interviewed Martinez at the North Hollywood Police Station. Martinez told Householder he had known the victim Nancy Boehm his whole life. He said he went to school with Shawn and his sister Leticia. He said the last time he saw Nancy was over a week ago. Told Householder he spoke to Nancy every day.

7 MARTIN PINNER - LAPD Detective. Investigated the Nieves and Santos stabbings in May 2001. Interviewed Martinez after the attack on Nieves and Santos. The audio recording of that interview is introduced through this witness.

Day 6
7 MARTIN PINNER - Playing of the interview tape continued. Detective Pinner testifies that no weapon was recovered in that case.

8 DAVID RIEMEN - LAPD Detective, tesifying in uniform. Reimen was a patrol officer in 1997. He responded to the Boehm murder scene. Reimen filled out a field interview card on Martinez. Reimen was assigned the task of going door to door and interviewing potential witnesses. Reimen has no independent memory of that day.

9 BRUCE LYLE - Former LA County Coroner Investigator. Responded to the Boehm murder scene. Collected Shawn and Nancy's bodies and transported them to the Coroner's. Collected fingernail scrapings and fingernail clippings from the bodies of Shawn and Nancy Boehm.

10 SUSAN RINEHART - LAPD Criminalist - Responded to the 1997 Boehm murder scene. Introduces many crime scene photos that were taken at the scene. Collected numerous pieces of evidence. Meticulously recovered/uncovered the several layers of papers, bags, purses and other items that were on top of Nancy Boehm.

Day 7
9 BRUCE LYLE - Recalled to clarify he was mistaken on how he collected the fingernail evidence.

11 STEVEN KORDAK - Neighbor and friend of Nancy and Shawn Boehm. Kordak grew up in the neighborhood. Spoke to Shawn Boehm on the street around 11 AM, Friday September 19, 1997, the day before Shawn and Nancy's bodies were found. Testified to what he knew about Shawn's capabilities.

10 SUSAN RINEHART - testimony continued. Under cross examination, introduced over 50 photographs from the Boehm murder scene.

12 JESSICA STOCKTON - Lived with Nancy Boehm for approximately two months before the murders. Testifies to Nancy's security procedures at the house. Describes what she knew of Shawn's capabilities.

Day 8
13 MELISSA POPOVIC - LAPD Criminalist. Forensic print specialist, latent print unit. Popovic collected evidence in the 2001 case. Collected a partial bloody palm print left on the door jam or door, of Nieves bedroom door. On Monday, 2/4, she printed the defendant's palms. She matched the bloody palm print she found on the door to the defendant.

14 CHRISTINE SALMAS - Friend and former customer of Nancy Boehm. Knew Nancy from around 1995-6 to around the time of her death. Knew the security procedures at Nancy's house. Testified about Nancy's procedures and how Nancy conducted business in her home. Testified about an incident where there were many people in the home, waiting for a "runner" to deliver drugs. Martinez was there and she overheard Nancy say something to the defendant. When detectives showed her a photo of Martinez, she gave the following statement: "I’m almost sure this is the guy that I saw once in her house. She had to tell him to calm down and be quiet. She shushed him. He must have been coked up and I only saw him once."

15 ROBERT CALLAHAN - Friend of Nancy Boehm. Callahan testifies that Nancy was pretty much his best friend from the time he met her in 1991 until her death. He knew Shawn and mentored him. took him to the Special Olympics, carnivals, etc. Shawn was a fun kid to be around. He knew about Nancy's security procedures and observed her business transactions. Stated that Nancy did sell drugs on credit. Knew Martinez and identifies him. Believes he saw Nancy refuse credit to Martinez once and make him leave her home. Observed Martinez angry and screaming at Nancy a few times.

Day 9 & Short Update II
Defense Witness taken out of order
1. JEFFREY BECK - LAPD Sargent, Watch Command. In 2001 was a patrol officer. He responded to the Nieves and Santos crime scene. He interviewed Mr. Santos with Officer Guthrie. At some point during the interview, Mr. Santos became uncooperative and threatened to "fuck up" the defendant. Officer Beck verifies that Mr. Santos gave the same story to him that he testified to on the stand.

Prosecution Witnesses
16 BARBARA LEAL - Criminalist; Senior DNA Analyst for Cellmark Forensics. Explains STR testing and Y-STR testing and the purpose of each test. Explains the four steps of developing an DNA profile from a sample. (more to come)

17 PATRICIA HUCK - LAPD Criminialist since 1984. DNA Analyst since 2008. Performed DNA analysis in the Boehm's case. Received the partial male profile developed by Cellmark and submitted it into CODIS. Identified through CODIS a potential suspect in the Boehm murders, Rafael Martinez, Jr. Performed two different analysis, a "likelihood ratio" and a "combined probability of inclusion" analysis on the two DNA profiles found under Nancy's fingernails. For the first test, she did a calculation where she assumed one profile was Nancy's. She then performed a calculation which tells her what is the probability that Rafael Martinez' DNA is the second part of that mixture. It is 3.297 billion times more likely to get the profile of Rafael Martinez, than if it was someone else's profile. The second analysis test gives a lower number. It tells how many different people could possibly be in that mixture. 1 in 123,900 individual's could be included in that mixture. Rafael Martinez could not be excluded as a contributor to the DNA mixture found under Nancy's fingernails.

Prosecution witness taken out of order
18 THOMAS TOWNSEND - LAPD Detective. Investigating Officer on the Boehm murders. Explains the murder book and the various sections it contains. Collected a DNA sample from the defendant after there was a CODIS hit.

17 PATRICIA HUCK - testimony resumed

19 VINCENT BANCROFT - LAPD Detective. Joined the investigation into Nancy and Shawn Boehm's deaths about two days after they were found. Collected the fingernail kits and blood samples for Nancy and Shawn from the Coroner's office and booked them into LAPD evidence. Interviewed potential witnesses.

Day 10
20 PATRICIA ROBBINS - Family friend and neighbor of Nancy and Shawn Boehm. When Shawn was little, occasionally babysit for Nancy.

21 TERESA FIERRO - Family friend and neighbor ot Nancy and Shawn Boehm. Sister to Patricia Robbins. Was Shawn's babysitter when Shawn was little. Visited Nancy at her home on September 16, 1997 at around 11 PM until 3 AM the next morning when she left the residence.

22 DR. IRWIN GOLDEN - Retired Deputy Medical Coroner with Los Angeles County. Performed the autopsy on Nancy Boehm.

23 DR. LOUIS PENA - Deputy Medical Coroner with Los Angeles County. Reviewed the autopsy on Shawn Boehm performed by Dr. Bockhacker.

19 VINCENT BANCROFT - testimony resumed

18 THOMAS TOWNSEND - testimony resumed

Day 11
24 JODY HYNDS - DNA Analyst; worked at Cellmark 2002-2008. Currently employed by the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Defense Witness taken out of order
2 FRANK KRYSHAK - LAPD Officer; responded to the 2001 crime scene where Luz Nieves was murdered and Francisco Santos survived his injuries. Collected bullet, 6.68 grams of cocaine and a bloody, ten dollar bill from the crime scene. Sargent Kryshak did not have an independent recollection of events.

18 THOMAS TOWNSEND - testimony resumed

Defense Witnesses
3 TAMI MAYNARD - Friend of Nancy and Shawn Boehm for about ten years. Occasionally saw the defendant at Nancy's.

She was a friend and customer and knew Nancy sold drugs on credit. The name she knew Martinez by was "Junior." Saw Martinez at Nancy's house occasionally. Testified about what she knew of Nancy, her habits, the different groups of friends, the bars Nancy frequented, the security procedures at the house, how many different people she saw at the house, etc. Testified about Shawn and his capabilities. Stated the last time she spoke/saw Martinez was several months before Nancy's death.

4  ANTHONY GOBEA - Witness at the 2001 crime event when Nieves and Santos were attacked. He was in a building next door. At 1:15 AM in the morning of May 10, 2001, he heard two people arguing. He couldn't understand what they were saying. It was two males. It continued for a bit, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. He hear a door shut, a loud scream and then a bang. When he heard tires squealing, he and a friend stepped outside and saw Mr. Santos in the street, bleeding. They called 911. He remembers the man saying, "Help me, please, help me, please." Gobea and his friend told Santos to stay put.

5 STEPHANIE MARTINEZ - Rafael Martinez' aunt by marriage. The defendant is her nephew and David Martinez [Jr.] is her stepson.

6 DAVID MARTINEZ [Sr.] - Rafael's uncle.

7 RAFAEL MARTINEZ - Defendant. Direct testimony complete. No cross examination yet.

Day 12
8 Marc Taylor, President and Laboratory Director of Technical Associates, Inc.  Mr. Tayor is detailing his CV when I arrive. Technical Associates performed DNA testing on Shawn and Nancy Boehm's fingernails as well as the fingernail scrapings. The results of their testing is presented to the jury.