Denver judge dismisses 1998 infant murder case, conviction overturned, defendant released from prison

A Denver judge has dismissed a murder case centering around the 1998 death of a 4-month-old child. On Tuesday, the judge granted the motion for dismissal and Stephen Martinez was released from prison more than 26 years after he was convicted. 

Martinez, 58, was ordered to be released on Tuesday, nearly three decades after he was convicted of murder in the death of an infant left in his care. 

"The people have moved to dismiss this case based on the information before me, I'm going to grant that motion that the order be dismissed, that the defendant be released from the Department of Corrections," the judge said.

According to the Korey Wise Innocence Project, the murder conviction was overturned after new evidence that the infant had a pre-existing respiratory illness that caused her death. 

Martinez was convicted of first-degree murder- knowingly causing the death of a child under 12 when in a position of trust in January 2000. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

Martinez was watching his girlfriend's infant daughter, Heather Lynn Mares, on Oct. 17, 1998, while she went to the bank, according to the arrest affidavit from the Denver Police Department. The document states that paramedics responded to 400 S. Pecos Street on reports of a child choking. Martinez is not the baby's father.

Denver police detectives were called to the scene after the infant was evaluated in the ambulance because a paramedic said the baby had blood in her throat and nose. Martinez, according to the arrest affidavit, told officers that he called 911 because the baby was choking after he gave her a bottle. Officers said they recovered the baby's sheets from the washing machine and that they had blood on them. 

According to the arrest affidavit, doctors at Denver Health said that Heather suffered from a fractured skull and had bleeding inside her brain. She died at the hospital. Doctors stated in the document that the child's injuries were consistent with child abuse and not choking. 

According to the Korey Wise Innocence Project, Martinez made self-incriminating statements during a police interrogation that he later recanted.   

On Tuesday, the judge dismissed the murder case, making Martinez eligible to be freed from prison. 

Before announcing his decision, the judge addressed Heather's mother, Kim Estrada, in the courtroom directly, "The loss that you and your family have suffered is incomprehensible. Especially for such a small child. I understand that today is a difficult day."

"How does a pneumonia cause a fracture on a baby's head? How does Stephen admitting that he hit Heather's head on the crib, how does pneumonia take all that stuff away? It doesn't make sense," said Andre Mares, Heather's uncle. 

"We were heartbroken when he was wrongfully convicted and taken away from us over 27 years ago. We only wish his parents could be here to witness his return. My sister, Lucy, and brother never gave up hope and always believed in his innocence. They prayed until their last breath this day would arrive," said Martinez' aunt Teresa Garcia. 

The Denver District Attorney's Office released this statement after the case was dismissed: "The Korey Wise Innocence Project presented my office with multiple credible medical experts who challenged the initial determination that Heather's death was caused by physical abuse.  After receiving that information, my office retained independent experts whose opinions largely confirmed those of the defense experts.  Additionally, and more importantly, the Denver medical examiner who conducted Heather's autopsy in 1998 recently acknowledged a reasonable doubt about Heather's cause of death.  In light of the compelling evidence now available, we did not oppose the Innocence Project's motion to vacate Martinez' conviction and, unable now to meet our ethical and legal burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, we were obliged to dismiss the case," said DA Walsh.  "I want to emphasize that there was no misconduct on the part of the prosecutors or detectives who worked on the case in the late 1990s.  This is simply an example of the criminal justice system being willing and able to reassess a case when necessary.  I want to thank the prosecutors, investigators, and victim advocates from my office – most notably, Senior Deputy District Attorney Jessica Sommer from our Conviction Review Unit – for their outstanding work on this matter."