A judge dismissed three felony charges against an illegal immigrant accused of killing a Nashville restaurant owner in a hit-and-run...
A judge dismissed three felony charges against an illegal immigrant accused of killing a Nashville restaurant owner in a hit-and-run just months before the fatal incident.
Police say that 29-year-old Ulises Martinez struck 42-year-old Matt Carney in the parking lot of Smokin Thighs, Carney’s popular chicken restaurant and bar, on June 19, before speeding off and leaving the restaurant owner on the road. Carney died from his injuries on July 4.
Martinez was arrested last week and was charged with criminal homicide, tampering with evidence, vehicle theft, criminal impersonation, and evading arrest. A hearing for the charges is scheduled for next month.
On Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed to The Daily Wire that Martinez is an illegal immigrant from Mexico, saying that he crossed into the United States at “an unknown date and location, without being admitted or paroled by an immigration officer.”
Martinez’s arrest over Carney’s death was not his first run-in with the law, court records show.
In February, Martinez was arrested alongside 33-year-old Christian Arredondo. The pair was accused of stealing a white van, a red truck, and stealing tools from a white truck.
However, on March 6, Nashville Judge Jim Todd dismissed all three charges during a preliminary hearing, according to a recording of the hearing obtained by The Daily Wire. Todd ruled that prosecutors failed to show probable cause.
During the hearing, Nashville Police Detective Luke Steigerwalt testified that he witnessed Martinez and Arredondo driving a white van on February 28 that had been reported stolen on February 22.
The detective said that he followed the van after it was identified and watched the two men take tools and machinery out of the bed of one truck and put it in the stolen van. The detective added that he then saw them drive into one neighborhood, where they found a running truck and drove off with it before parking it at another location.
The pair then drove the van to an apartment complex, where the police arrested them both. Steigerwalt said that neither Arredondo nor Martinez could provide proof of ownership of the van, which had a fake temporary license plate on the back.
Steigerwalt said that Arredondo had a crack pipe in his possession when he was arrested. Neither of the men spoke English.
After testimony from Steigerwalt and the owner of the van, attorney Jennifer Barrera, who was representing Martinez, moved to challenge the charges on grounds of probable cause.
She said that Martinez should not be facing felony theft charges, but a “joyriding charge at most,” arguing that prosecutors failed to prove he knowingly stole the vehicle. She said that the owner of the white van “wasn’t able to say they stole it, that either one took it, just that they had it, and were allowed to have it.”
The owner testified during the hearing that he did not know either Martinez or Arredondo, and said he did not give them permission to have the truck.
Barrera said that there was no proof given that Martinez knew that Arredondo was going to take the red truck, nor proof that the tools taken from the third vehicle were stolen and not borrowed.
She said that the “owner of the red truck is not here” and that “we don’t know” if they had permission to take the truck or not.
Prosecutor Emily Todoran insisted that the “state has established probable cause” through the warrants that the two men were in “knowing possession of the stolen vehicle.”
Still, Todd remained skeptical, suggesting the van could have been pawned off to the two men.
The Nashville District Attorney’s office declined to comment when asked if it moved to refile the case after Todd’s dismissal.
Police say that Martinez and 31-year-old Adrian Diaz were stealing tools out of Carney’s truck when he confronted him, whereupon they hit Carney with their truck.
Diaz was arrested on July 10 and charged with evading arrest and drug possession. He had previously been deported four times and has multiple criminal convictions in Indiana and Tennessee.
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