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BROWNSVILLE — Jurors are set to deliberate the fate of a Brownsville man convicted of killing a San Benito police lieutenant more than three years ago.
Closing arguments in the punishment phase against Rogelio Martinez Jr., 21, wrapped up at 1 p.m. Thursday.
The jury was expected to begin deliberations at 2:15 p.m. following a lunch break.
The defense has been presenting its case to the jury since Tuesday, attempting to convince jurors to sentence Martinez Jr. to life in prison without parole as opposed to death.
They rested their case mid-morning Thursday.
Meanwhile, prosecutors brought several more witnesses to testify Thursday, including Lt. Milton Resendez‘s widow, Melissa Resendez.
Melissa told jurors that she and her husband were both from San Benito, and that they met at Texas Southmost College while obtaining their degrees.
She was a probation officer for 28 years, but Melissa retired after her husband’s death.
Melissa testified that she and her husband had planned to retire in May 2024, and their retirement plans included buying an RV and traveling the country.
But those plans were cut short on Oct. 17, 2023, when Martinez Jr. fatally shot her husband, who began his career in law enforcement around 1990.
“Milton loved his job,” Melissa said of her husband, who was a 27-year veteran of the San Benito Police Department.
Melissa spoke about how she and her husband didn’t talk about work in their home life because, as a probation officer, she liked helping people turn their lives around while he liked putting the bad guys in jail.
When asked about Oct. 17, 2023, Melissa said “it was the worst day of my life.”
On the day of his killing, Resendez was working the graveyard shift.
Melissa said she came home from work, woke her husband up and made his lunch.
Before he left to work, Melissa said Milton reminded her that Oct. 18, 2023, was his day off and they had planned to go out to eat.
She also described how her husband loved animals.
Melissa now cares for the eight dogs he adopted, and says that without those pets, she wouldn’t be able to get up in the morning.
On the day her husband was killed, Melissa went to sleep around 10 p.m. or 10:30 p.m. and then the phone rang with an officer she knew just telling her to get dressed, there’s been an accident.
Melissa did as instructed, and the officer picked her up and took her to the hospital in Harlingen, where she saw tons of police.
“It was just a nightmare,” Melissa said.
While she was at the hospital in this chaotic scene, before the doctors came out, Melissa had a sudden feeling that Milton was no longer with her.
Moments later, the doctors came out and delivered the terrible news.
Melissa also told jurors how she still has all of Resendez’s belongings, and how her late husband’s clothes are still in her closet.
“He’s still with me, he’s just not physically with me,” Melissa said.
Then, instead of going to lunch with her husband on Oct. 18, 2023, Melissa attended a news conference regarding her husband’s fatal shooting.
It was there that she personally asked Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz to handle the case and to get justice for her husband.
Prior to Melissa’s testimony, defense attorneys called their last witness to the stand, Rogelio Martinez Sr. — the defendant’s father who has been incarcerated for sexually assaulting a child since Nov. 10, 2014.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice records show Martinez Sr. is serving a 30-year sentence for convictions of assault of a public servant, assault causes bodily injury to a family member, aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by contact.
Martinez Sr. testified how he was absent most of his son’s life due to him drinking on the streets and fighting with police.
He told jurors that Thursday was the first time he had seen his son in 12 years, and has had no contact with him even though they’re both currently being held in the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center in Olmito.
He also said that, despite the circumstances, he was happy to see his son.
As Martinez Sr. testified, Martinez Jr. would hold his head down or sometimes cover his face with his hands.
Martinez Sr. said his son needed the love he never gave him because he didn’t care about anything because he was drinking.
The man also expressed remorse for being a bad father and said he could have done more for his son.
Under cross examination by Saenz, Martinez Sr. said his son has a right to blame his actions on his father.
When defense attorney Ed Cyganiewicz asked Martinez Sr. whether he had anything to say to his son, the man asked for forgiveness for not being there and said he is remorseful for being absent when his son needed him the most.
He asked the jury to have compassion toward his son and forgive him.
In closing arguments, defense attorney Rigo Flores said Martinez Jr. is not a continuing threat to society and asked the jury to consider how there’s been no incidents with the man since he’s been on medication.
“Rogelio’s life is literally in your hands. Rogelio lives or dies by your command,” Cyganiewicz said.
The jury’s decision can’t be made based on passion or sympathy, Cyganiewicz said, but rather the decision must be based on the evidence.
“He gets out of prison in a box either way,” Cyganiewicz said.
The defense attorney then talked about how all the evidence of neglect and abuse that Martinez Jr. experienced is not an excuse or justification for his decisions to shoot and run from law enforcement on Oct. 17, 2023.
“We’re just trying to show you why he is the way he is,” Cyganiewicz said.
He also reminded jurors about his age at the time of the shooting, which was 18 and four months, and evidence about how the man’s brain wasn’t fully developed.
The defense attorney also reminded the jurors of experts who testified that Martinez Jr. had a low probability for future violence.
Lastly, Cyganiewicz called Martinez Jr.’s life “a tragic story.”
“Locking him up for life is justice,” Cyganiewicz said.
Saenz, on the other hand, began his closing arguments by talking about how defense attorneys presented the case as “poor, poor Rogelio.”
“This is the victim, ladies and gentlemen,” Saenz said while pointing at a photo of Milton.
Then, Saenz said, “it’s not life without parole. It’s life. He gets to live.”
Saenz also blasted the defense’s “so-called” experts.
He said they aren’t from here and they don’t know this community, and said they have “academia detachment.”
“They can’t relate to what you and I have to do. They are gone,” Saenz said.
The district attorney said jurors can find Martinez Jr. is a future danger to society simply based on what he’s been convicted of — shooting and killing Milton after leading police on an hourslong chase from South Padre Island, to Brownsville, to San Benito and back to Brownsville.
Saenz said the defense attorneys only focused on Martinez Jr.’s background because they don’t want to talk about the facts of the case.
He also disputed that Martinez Jr. showed any remorse, saying it’s interesting there wasn’t any remorse until after he learned he was facing the death penalty.
The district attorney also said that Martinez Jr. is blaming everybody else for what he did, and said he found it disgusting that two of his aunts took the stand and disparaged his grandmother, Martha Gonzalez, who was the only one that visited Rogelio while he was in jail for the shooting.
It prompted an outburst from one of Martinez Jr.’s family members who said, “you didn’t know her, sir” as she exited the courtroom.
Jurors heard a lot of evidence during the punishment phase on how Gonzalez was an alcoholic, neglectful and abusive toward her children and grandchildren.
“People have to be held accountable. … He’s a bad person, he belongs to the cartel, you can’t deny that,” Saenz said.
The district attorney also called Martinez Jr. a sociopath.
“He is a threat to our society, he continues to be a threat to our society,” Saenz said.
Prior to the sentencing phase, the jury previously found Martinez Jr. guilty of murdering Resendez on Oct. 8, following three hours and 15 minutes of deliberations.
Martinez’s co-defendant, 26-year-old Mexican national Rodrigo Axel Espinosa Valdez, previously pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of murder. Martinez, meanwhile, pleaded not guilty.
Testimony throughout the sentencing phase that began Monday featured various doctors and Martinez’s family members, which Flores said their testimony would show the jury that there is sufficient mitigation for Martinez Jr. to serve life in prison without parole.
On Wednesday, jurors witnessed a dramatic exchange between Martinez Jr.’s aunt, Victoria Ortiz, and Saenz.
Ortiz said she disagreed with the jurors’ verdict while Saenz accused her of being dishonest. The aunt, who stayed composed during her testimony, told Saenz that she was only there to tell the truth and to help her nephew.
Dr. Yenys Castillo, a clinical forensic psychologist who had conducted interviews with Martinez Jr., including one on Tuesday, also took the stand Wednesday to explain why the man was seen smiling outside the presence of the jury.
According to the doctor, who testified he was tearing up as he explained it to her, Martinez Jr. said he smiles when he sees his family members in the audience since it’s the only time he can see them, but that he felt conflicted about it and tries not to look at Resendez’s family because he feels bad.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, jurors were informed of Martinez Jr.’s upbringing, which included a host of problems such as mental illness, abuse, neglect and poverty.
Dr. Antolin Llorente, a court-appointed neuropsychologist who evaluated Martinez Jr., told the jury records show the man had more than 75 interactions with Child Protective Services, starting when he was just 4 months old.
The jury also heard from Maria Granados, Martinez Jr.’s aunt and Ortiz’s sister, who testified of the difficult, neglectful and abusive upbringing she and her siblings endured from Gonzalez.
Editor’s note: This story and its headline have been updated to reflect new information.