Sterling man wants attempted murder charge dismissed

MORRISON – A Sterling man charged with attempted murder, arson and home invasion in connection with a Dec. 10 attack is asking the court to dismiss the attempted murder charge because, his attorney says, it was filed too late and violates his right to a speedy trial.

Matthew R. Martinez, 28, is accused of stabbing a man and a woman several times after setting a fire in the attached garage then forcing his way into the woman’s home in Sterling.

The attempted murder charge relates to the Dixon man’s injuries. It is punishable by 20 to 80 years in prison.

Martinez was arrested on Dec. 10, and charged with home invasion and two counts of aggravated battery on Dec. 12. He remains in Whiteside County jail on $500,000 bond.

On Jan. 17, charges of aggravated arson while knowing people are present, arson involving personal property and residential arson were added.

On May 2, State’s Attorney Terry Costello amended those charges once again to add attempted murder.

That’s “143 days after the defendant had been in custody for offenses arising out of the same investigation ... [and] 23 days after the expiration of the applicable speedy trial term ...,” Public Defender James Fagerman said in his motion to dismiss, filed July 20.

In Illinois, a defendant must be tried within 120 days of being taken into custody.

That requirement is 160 days if the defendant posts bond and is freed, and files a written demand for a trial.

A defendant also can waive his right to a speedy trial, but Martinez did not do either of the latter two.

(Continuances are what lengthen that 120-day period. Delays attributed to the defense, or those agreed to, or at least not objected to, by the defense, stop the clock on the speedy trial countdown, which is why very few trials actually are held within 120 or 160 days.)

Additionally, attempted murder is a charge subject to compulsory joinder, Fagerman argued in his motion.

The compulsory joinder rule says a prosecutor must bring all charges against a defendant that are known when the prosecution begins and that arise from the same episode – in this case, the Dec. 10 incident – in a single action.

Finally, even though Martinez did agree to several continuances in the case, they were agreed to before the new charge was filed, so any delay in the proceedings because of them must be attributed to the state, not the defense, said Fagerman, who until March was one of Costello’s assistant state’s attorneys.

Costello has not yet filed a response to the motion.

The other charges also come with potentially lengthy sentences.

Home invasion and aggravated arson each is punishable by six to 30 years in prison, while residential arson carries four to 15 years.

One of the battery charges and arson of personal property are punishable by three to seven years, the other battery by two to five years, and the residential arson by one to four years.

Before the attempted murder charge was added, the defense filed a motion seeking to reduce Martinez’s bond. A hearing on the motion was canceled; it still is pending.

What the state statute says

720 ILCS 5/3-3, Sec. 3-3.

Multiple prosecutions for same act.

(a) When the same conduct of a defendant may establish the commission of more than one offense, the defendant may be prosecuted for each such offense.

(b) If the several offenses are known to the proper prosecuting officer at the time of commencing the prosecution and are within the jurisdiction of a single court, they must be prosecuted in a single prosecution, except as provided in Subsection (c), if they are based on the same act.

(c) When 2 or more offenses are charged as required by Subsection (b), the court in the interest of justice may order that one or more of such charges shall be tried separately.