Teen invokes 5th amendment during juvenile capital murder trial
TARRANT COUNTY - An 18-year-old would not answer any questions about the death of a child he fathered, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a juvenile capital murder trial in Fort Worth.
Alexis Martinez is not charged in the death of the baby girl in 2021 in Fort Worth. The mother of the child, who has admitted to killing the baby moments after delivery, is facing a request from prosecutors of up to 40 years in prison.
Until Wednesday's questioning from attorneys representing the 17-year-old girl, it wasn't clear to what extent Martinez was asked about the death. A Fort Worth police detective who worked on the case testified this week he wasn't able to find Martinez at home or school and never spoke to him in the more than two years he was investigating the case.
Defense attorneys said Martinez cannot be charged now, because he has turned 18.
Tuesday prosecutors showed Snapchat and text messages between Martinez and the girl, in which he agreed the baby she was pregnant with had to be killed and discussed where to bury it. Detective Christopher Parker testified he believed Martinez was going back and forth on his intentions and that the messages weren't enough to justify a charge.
Defense attorney Frank Adler asked Martinez on the stand, "Do you agree it is extremely unfair, and extremely unjust that (the girl) was charged with capital murder and you sir as of today have literally gotten away with murder?"
An attorney standing behind Martinez pointed to the Fifth Amendment text on a piece of paper, instructing him to read it.
In testimony earlier in the day a clinical psychologist and a licensed counselor both testified that the girl showed no remorse for the death, but also that she almost didn't acknowledge she had even given birth to the child.
"X'd out or deleted the child from her memory, from her being, from existence," said Dr. Nichelle Wiggins. "So she was only willing to say she had one child."
That one child, was a second child the girl became pregnant with several months after the murder. Child Protective Services removed that child from her custody. The mental health experts said most of the emotion the girl showed in conversations, was over the well-being of that second daughter.
