Martinez retrial expected to start Wednesday

A pretrial hearing in the unusual case of accused home invader-rapist Nathan Martinez dragged on for the second day Tuesday in a Richland County courtroom.

Martinez, 37, originally from Utah, is representing himself in the prosecution’s second attempt to put him on trial. An earlier trial was halted before its end.

The trial of Martinez, who faces charges of burglary, kidnapping, armed robbery and rape could begin Wednesday.

Tuesday’s pretrial hearing before state Judge Knox McMahon was marked by Martinez’s excruciatingly detailed questions to prospective witnesses, including one of his alleged rape victims.

At times, the woman wept as Martinez, displaying no emotion, took her repeatedly over minute details of her rape and afterward, how she was examined at a hospital by a nurse with a rape kit.

At pretrial hearings such as this, the judge rules on what can and cannot be admitted as evidence during the actual trial. A jury has been selected in the case, but McMahon has kept it out of the hearing.

During Tuesday’s pretrial hearing, Martinez said he has mental health issues and once had said police in Ogden, Utah, planted a device in his head.