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A jury on Monday sentenced a 21-year-old man to death for the fatal shooting of a San Benito police officer more than three years ago.
Rogelio Martinez Jr. had been convicted of killing San Benito police Lt. Milton Resendez on Oct. 17, 2023, following an hourslong police chase that began in South Padre Island when a Cameron County park ranger attempted to conduct a traffic stop.
Deliberations took nearly nine hours over the course of three days.
Martinez Jr., and 26-year-old Mexican national Rodrigo Axel Espinosa Valdez, fled the Island to Brownsville, then to San Benito — where Resendez was shot — and finally Brownsville again, where the Texas Department of Public Safety disabled their vehicle and took them into custody.
Espinosa Valdez, Martinez Jr.’s co-defendant, previously pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of murder.
The jury found Martinez Jr. guilty of killing Resendez on Oct. 8 after jurors deliberated for three hours and 15 minutes.
During the sentencing phase, which began Oct. 19, defense attorneys brought on various experts and Martinez’s family members to show that their testimony would show jurors there was sufficient mitigation for Martinez Jr. to serve life in prison without parole.
Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz said the defense attorneys were presenting the case as “poor, poor Rogelio.”
Saenz said, “it’s not life without parole. It’s life. He gets to live.”
This is a developing story.