Mistrial declared – no reason given – for accused serial home invader, rapist

An accused serial home invader-rapist had his wish granted Wednesday when state Circuit Judge Knox McMahon declared a mistrial in a Columbia courtroom and sent the jury home.

But the judge didn’t give a reason he was calling off the trial, which was in its second day.

The defendant, Nathan Martinez, 37, had asked for the mistrial late Wednesday morning after complaining about his court-appointed lawyer, Aimee Zmroczek. On Tuesday, the judge had granted a request from Martinez to fire Zmroczek and let him be his own lawyer in the case. She was still at the defense table as an adviser.

Prosecutors Wednesday morning were planning to continue a succession of witnesses who were describing to the jury what prosecutors said in opening statements would be volumes of indisputable evidence against Martinez. Evidence included eyewitness testimony, DNA, fingerprints and possibly a statement Martinez gave to police after his arrest.

In acting as his own attorney, Martinez on Tuesday extensively questioned under oath one of the women he is accused of raping. The woman sobbed through most of her answers. Martinez also cross-examined one of the woman’s daughters, who stared back at him with a fixed, unafraid gaze.

The woman once lived in Forest Acres, where one incident happened. Along with her 14-year-old daughter, she had come from the West Coast this week to testify against Martinez.

On the witness stand Tuesday, mother and daughter positively identified Martinez as the gun-toting, hammer-wielding stranger who had broken into their apartment March 27, 2014, and raped the mother while the daughter, then 11, and her sister, then 5, were locked in a nearby bathroom.

McMahon declined to say publicly why he was declaring a mistrial and promptly sealed – made secret – an email from Martinez’s former attorney, Zmroczek, that the judge said in open court contained the reasons he was declaring a mistrial.

When McMahon announced his decision, the woman who had taken the stand Tuesday began to cry audibly in the courtroom. The mistrial means she and her daughter will have to go through their ordeal again.

McMahon also appointed Columbia attorney Justin Kata to be Martinez’s new court-designated lawyer. Kata said Wednesday he was just beginning with the case and had no comment.

McMahon realized Martinez still will need a lawyer.

Fifth Circuit Solicitor Dan Johnson pledged later Wednesday to try the case again.

“My office will keep getting after it,” Johnson said in a text to The State newspaper. “We always want to win, but everyone needs to be doing things the right way. It’s the only way that we as a society can have a fair and just system. That ideal includes the prosecutors, defense lawyers and everyone in between.”

After the jury left the courtroom, a State reporter asked McMahon to make public the sealed email that appeared to be the basis for his decision. McMahon politely told the reporter that he would listen to a request to open the document from The State’s media law attorney, Jay Bender.

Later Wednesday afternoon, Bender was trying to get in touch with McMahon to ask him to open the secret document so the public could learn the reasons the trial had been called off.

Right now, the reasons for scuttling the case on the second day of an expensive, complex trial are not clear. Lawyers on both sides go to great lengths to round up witnesses and evidence. And any trial that takes place is usually the result of months of out-of-court work. The solicitor’s office has three prosecutors on the case: Luck Campbell, Meghan Walker and Jessica Godwin.

Before McMahon declared a mistrial, Martinez told the judge he was dissatisfied with Zmroczek’s representation and that she had failed to do things such as investigate the prosecution’s witnesses.

McMahon did not question Zmroczek, who was in the courtroom, about her conduct. She had no comment to a reporter who asked her about the matter later.

A friend and occasional co-counsel of Zmroczek’s, longtime Columbia defense attorney John Delgado, observed some of Wednesday’s court happenings but had no comment on them.

Zmroczek was Martinez’s fifth court-appointed lawyer in two years. According to court records, there have been numerous pretrial hearings in the case.

Martinez also told the judge the prosecution’s evidence won’t hold up under scrutiny. “There’s nothing clear and convincing about what did happen.”

Prosecutor Walker told the judge that Martinez’s request for a new trial was baseless and the trial should go forward.

McMahon rejected the request.

In dismissing the 15 jurors and alternates, McMahon thanked them for their service and said the case will be tried again. “The same parties will participate, the same witnesses will be called.”

This story was originally published September 21, 2016 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Mistrial declared – no reason given – for accused serial home invader, rapist."