LEADVILLE, Colo. — A Leadville woman who drove over and killed her boyfriend was found guilty of second-degree murder. The verdict came after a two-week jury trial in Georgetown, according to the Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Maria Day, 59, ran over 55-year-old John Alexander Martinez on James Street in Leadville on July 8, 2015.
According to the DA’s office, Day ran over Martinez with a Lexus sedan and left him to die.
Day’s elderly mother was in the back seat. The DA’s office said the mother was suffering from dementia and “was unable to give much information about what transpired.”
“People driving by saw Martinez lying by the side of the road and presumed he was passed out. What they didn’t see and what there were no eyewitnesses to, other than Defendant Day and her mother, was that Day had intentionally ran victim Martinez over after he had gotten out of the car to walk, leaving tire tracks on his pants,” the DA’s office said in a written statement released Friday.
Martinez died about four hours later. He had severe wounds over his entire body.
One hour after Day hit Martinez, she called 911 to say she hit “someone,” but did not identify the person as her boyfriend.
Surveillance footage from Day’s sister’s home showed her trying to buff out some of the damage on the Lexus.
Leadville police arrested Day later that day.
“The jury rejected Defendant Day’s explanation given to police that as she dropped off Martinez, her transmission stuck, causing her car to accelerate and run him over. The prosecution presented extensive evidence that the Lexus car make and model had no history of a faulty transmission, as well as the prior car owner testifying that when it was sold a year earlier, it was in good working order (also according to accident reconstruction experts),” the DA’s office said.
DA Bruce Brown called intimate partner violence an “endemic” in society.
“After an extraordinarily long wait of five years to obtain justice, the family and friends of John Martinez finally are able to have a conclusive judgment that Defendant Day set out to kill and accomplished her goal,” said Brown, later adding, “This incident should be another call to the United States Senate to re-authorize the Ending Violence Against Women Act, a robust law aimed at ending intimate partner violence by funding services to victims of abuse or violence, safe housing and counseling.”
The DA’s office said the case was moved from Lake County (where Leadville is located) to Clear Creek County (where Georgetown is located) because there were not enough impartial jurors in Lake County.
A sentencing date was not set because the presiding judge wanted to dismiss parties due to a winter storm hitting the mountains.