Johnny Martinez has the support of pillars of the community.
Officials from the American Civil Liberties Union, law professors, a pastor, a high school principal and two Los Angeles County Probation Department commissioners all urged a judge to grant him bail.
Except Martinez is no ordinary defendant. Nicknamed “Crow,” he is a member of the Mexican Mafia, according to federal prosecutors, accused of ordering a series of killings that allowed him to maintain a grip on street gangs and inmates in Orange County. Prosecutors say Martinez was wiretapped, threatening to shoot someone in the head and bragging about multiple murders.
Martinez became eligible for bail in December after his 1995 murder conviction was overturned. Charged at age 18 with the murder of a man killed during a fight, Martinez was convicted on the basis of theory that death was a “natural and probable consequence” of his participation in the fight. Sentenced to 26 years to life in prison, Martinez spent the next three decades filing subpoenas, appeals and motions as a self-taught lawyer in prison.
After the state Legislature raised the standard of proof required to prove murder, a judge reduced Martinez’s conviction to misdemeanor assault. But Martinez, now 48, was not released because a federal grand jury indicted him in 2022 for crimes he allegedly committed from state prison. Prosecutors say he raked in illegal profits from gangs, drug dealers and inmates in Orange County.
“Anyone who was involved in any type of criminal element, drugs, any type of racketeering that you could think of, they got a percentage,” Martinez’s former right-hand man said during the recent trial of a co-defendant in the federal racketeering case. .
Martinez has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers asked a magistrate to release him on bail pending his trial, scheduled for 2025. In support of their request, they filed a dozen letters that portray Martinez as a champion of civil rights, a skilled litigator and a defender of peace.
Sean Garcia-Leys, commissioner of the Los Angeles County Probation Department, said he was first contacted by Martinez while he was working with the ACLU to defend two rival gang members in Placentia against a gang injunction. Martinez persuaded them to put aside their grievances and became the “architect” of a countywide gang truce, Garcia-Leys wrote.
“He constantly strives to improve the lives of those around him,” he said.
In an interview, Garcia-Leys said he wrote the letter on behalf of his public trust, the Peace and Justice Law Center. “I certainly did not do so in my capacity as commissioner of probation supervision.”
Garcia-Leys said he was aware of the allegations in the indictment, but maintained his position that Martinez should be released on bail. The risk of letting someone out of prison must also be weighed against the harm caused by keeping them in prison, he said.
Martínez’s mother, Dolores Canales, herself a commissioner of the Probation Department, told the judge: “After everything my son has endured, you would think he would be full of anger and bitterness. But it is his firm belief in law and justice that keeps him alive. »
As commissioners, Canales and Garcia-Leys are responsible for overseeing a large law enforcement agency that administers the county’s juvenile centers.
In a letter, Canales said her son’s participation in a hunger strike in 2011 over conditions at the Pelican Bay maximum security prison made her “realize the harsh reality of human lives stored and the fact that incarceration was not the solution but an ever-increasing problem.
Canales did not respond to a request for comment.
Court records show Martinez received an award last year for “leadership development” from Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, who wrote: “I commend you for your advocacy and service to our community!
In a statement, Sarmiento said he supports programs that help “justice-affected people” change their lives. Even if the “vast majority” do not commit new crimes, he said, “unfortunately, we know that not everyone who participates in such efforts will be successful.”
Academics, nonprofit leaders, a psychiatrist and a high school principal all urged the judge to view Martinez not as a threat to society but as an asset. Angelica Camacho, assistant professor of criminal justice at San Francisco State, called Martinez a “highly ethical and principled man,” a “strong advocate for justice” and a “warm and caring individual with a friendly personal character.”
She described a profoundly different person than the one captured on a wiretap, telling an Anaheim gang member who dared to interrupt her: “I have no problem, buddy, showing up at a mother’s house and shoot him at point blank range. »
In opposition to his request for bail, prosecutors filed in court transcripts of calls Martinez allegedly made from a contraband phone tapped by the FBI.
“If you ever interrupt me again,” Martinez said, according to a transcript, “your career is over and I’m going to have you killed on the spot, okay? My buddy is going to put a gun to your head and to shoot on.
“If he thinks for one second he can take on the Mexican Mafia, hey, I already put four people six feet under,” Martinez said. “If he wants to be the fifth, let’s do it.”
Although a pastor who befriended Martinez told the judge that in all their years of correspondence he had “never suggested any affiliation with former gangs, nefarious cartels or the Mexican Mafia,” prosecutors say there is no doubt about his allegiance.
If his mother was on her deathbed and one of her “brothers” asked her to do something, Martinez said in another intercepted call: “I have to answer the call of obligation, you know, because that’s what I signed up for. »
Martinez is accused of ordering the robbery of a drug dealer in Placentia who was killed while resisting attackers. Martinez also allegedly directed the beating of an inmate whose throat was slashed and a thwarted hit on a man named Rick who Martinez said was hitting a female friend.
“I’m killing Rick,” Martinez told him in a text message, according to prosecutors. “Look what I do to Rick, another one bites the dust.”
Police arrested two armed men near the home of the intended victim.
Martinez is also charged with conspiracy to murder three men who worked for him.
After falling out of favor with Martinez, Gregory “Snoopy” Munoz was beaten at Calipatria State Prison, stabbed by two inmates the following week, then shot in the back after his release from prison, according to prosecutors.
Another lieutenant, Michael “Shaggy” Cooper, angered Martinez by lying about his drug use and accumulating debt. “I may be a gangster,” Martinez told Cooper in a wiretapped call, “but I go after Christian too, you know? One thing the Bible teaches us, Shag, is that the truth will set you free.
After Cooper admitted to using heroin, Martinez said he did not tolerate his “workers'” addiction because “I expect them to wake up in the morning and let their job give them green.”
“If you want to be part of Team Crow,” he said, “I expect the best of the best, big dog. I’m proud of who we are and, you know, it’s a matter of honor, integrity and representation to the fullest.
“Personally, I don’t do drugs,” Martinez said.
Martinez’s jail disciplinary record, however, included notes for heroin use and possession of medications used to treat opiate addiction, according to prosecutors.
Cooper was stabbed 17 times by three Calipatria inmates on Martinez’s orders, prosecutors say. A year later, Cooper was attacked again in an Orange County jail by inmates who beat him and slit his throat.
Cooper and Munoz survived, but not another of Martinez’s subordinates. Accused of stealing money in a drug deal, Richard Villeda was lured into a car and shot, his body dumped on an Orange street with seven bullets to the head and back. The three gunmen were convicted of the murder last year.
Prosecutors say Martinez was wiretapped, warning an old friend to talk to police. He raised Villeda and Munoz. “I got them both as nothing,” he said, according to a transcript.
“Now don’t think for a second,” Martinez told the friend, “that I couldn’t make you do that.”
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