Man gets 10 years in prison for California police officer’s shooting death
David Martinez had pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter for the killing of a Pomona police SWAT officer who was helping to serve a search warrant at a San Gabriel house.
A judge on Tuesday sentenced a Mongols Motorcycle Club member to 10 years in prison for killing a Pomona SWAT officer who was serving a search warrant at the man’s San Gabriel home in 2014.
But 44-year-old David Martinez won’t be serving a decade in prison since he has been in custody since 2014. His defense attorney Brady Sullivan calculated Martinez has been in county jail for eight years and three months. His release date would have been March 26, according to Sullivan.
No release date has been set.
Martinez took a deal and pleaded no contest on Nov. 30 to the voluntary manslaughter of Officer Shaun Diamond and assault with a firearm on a police officer.
Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo gave him 10 years for the manslaughter and 10 years for the assault but stayed the sentence for the assault charge. Deputy District Attorney Jack Garden had asked the court for a maximum sentence of 33 years to life.
“This is such a tragic case,” the judge said.
While two juries acquitted Martinez of murder, Olmedo said the jurors didn’t believe the shooting was self-defense, as Martinez’s lawyer had argued.
She told Martinez he was originally facing life in prison without parole. She said he now will serve his sentence and return to his family.
“Be the father, brother, son they deserve,” Olmedo told him.
Martinez was tried twice. The jury in the 2019 trial acquitted him of first degree murder but were deadlocked on second-degree murder. The jurors in the second trial last year found him not guilty of second-degree murder but couldn’t decide on the charges of manslaughter and assault with a firearm on an officer.
The verdicts disappointed them, Pomona Police Deputy Chief Christian Hsu said.
As for the sentence? “That was the decision of the judge,” Hsu said, adding that the department won’t comment on it.
Sheriff’s Detective Ray Lugo, the investigator in the case, didn’t agree with the sentence.
“Evidence showed he (Martinez) was under the influence of meth at the time of the shooting. Everybody in the house heard the (police) announcements,” Lugo said.
Before the sentencing, Lugo also alluded to some of the jurors during the trials having ulterior motives, including one who apparently had romantic feelings for Martinez.
Audio recently obtained by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune from a phone call inside Men’s Central Jail raised questions about Martinez’ relationship with a juror in his first trial. During the call, Martinez and the juror are heard expressing romantic feelings for each other. “I love you dearly. No matter what, no matter who, no matter anything and I’m here,” the juror said to Martinez, according to the audio recording.
Martinez, who wanted out of the Mongols, didn’t know it was police at the door and thought they were fellow Mongols trying to break into the home, according to his attorney, Sullivan. He fired a 12-gauge shotgun to protect his family, Sullivan said.
Martinez testified he didn’t hear officers say “police” or “search warrant.”
Lugo asked the judge before the sentencing not to let Martinez go home soon and to send him to prison.
“David did commit the crime. He had anger issues. He was on meth. He stands up there (and) pretends to be a great guy but he is a fake,” Lugo said.
Martinez’s parents, his sister and several neighbors heard the police announcements, Lugo added.
“And Margo I’m so sorry,” Lugo said, addressing Diamond’s daughter, Margo.
Nelson said she was getting ready for work when the doorbell rang the morning of Oct. 28, 2014. Someone came to take her to the hospital. She was told her father had been shot in the face. When she saw him cleaned up and bandaged in the hospital she said she had hope.
But she realized things were not OK, Nelson said.
She decided to remove him from life support the next day. She held his lifeless hand and watched him die. His organs were donated. Diamond was 45.
She said she hopes Martinez is haunted by what he did.
“When David leaves jail which is unfortunately sooner than later, he will go back to his club and family. He will get a patch to celebrate killing my dad,” she said.
“I don’t need to forgive David and I never will,” Nelson said.
Martinez apologized for his involvement.
“The truth of the matter is it was a tragic accident,” he said.
He understands the pain of Diamond’s family, he said. Martinez said he didn’t intend to shoot an officer but to protect his family.
A multi-agency operation targeting the Mongols served several warrants on Oct. 28, 2014. The Pomona SWAT was not part of the task force but was asked to serve the search warrant at the home of Martinez’s parents in the 100 block of North San Marino Avenue in San Gabriel.
Officers made announcements and said they had a search warrant, according to prosecutors. Martinez tested positive for methamphetamine the day of the shooting and police found the drug in the home, prosecutors said.
Martinez testified he heard a banging sound, grabbed the shotgun by the side of his bed and headed for the front door, where he thought someone was breaking in.
He saw the barrel of a gun pointing at his father and fired at the patch of dark sky he saw as the door opened, he said. Martinez said he didn’t see anyone.
Diamond, who had his back to the doorway, was carrying a tool that he and another officer used to breach the screen door. The shotgun slug hit the back of his neck. It severed his spine.
Diamond was walking away, had his back to Martinez and didn’t have a gun in his hand, Deputy DA Garden said.
None of the officers fired their weapons, according to Deputy District Attorney Hilary Williams. Diamond died the next day at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena.
Martinez returns to a Los Angeles court on March 22 for a restitution hearing.