Opinion ID: 6341049
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Testimony of Detective Beatty

Text: At trial, the prosecution called as a witness Detective Douglas Beatty, a Maricopa County homicide detective who was assigned to investigate Officer Martin’s death. The court permitted the State to recall Detective Beatty to the stand to question him about the condition of the ignition of the Monte Carlo when it was recovered in California, in order to help prove that Martinez knew that it was stolen. Detective Beatty testified that when he attempted to turn on the recovered Monte Carlo with keys found in its glove compartment, he discovered that “the ignition switch to the Monte Carlo was missing.” He described the ignition switch as “a hollow cavity” that could be turned on with “some sort of instrument,” such as a screwdriver. The prosecution indirectly referred to Detective Beatty’s “punched” ignition testimony once during its rebuttal closing argument. The prosecution used the testimony to rehabilitate a witness who had identified Martinez as purchasing gas at the Circle K shortly before the shooting. The State referred to the Monte Carlo as stolen multiple times, in its opening statement and closing arguments, as part of its argument that Martinez had premeditated Officer Martin’s killing. After Martinez’s trial in Arizona, he was tried in California for killing the clerk in the Mini-Mart. Prosecutors in the California case gave to Martinez files that they had MARTINEZ V. SHINN 9 obtained from the Arizona prosecutors. Those files included notes and a report from Ricci Cooksey, a California forensic examiner. Martinez argues that Cooksey’s report “failed to note a punched ignition when the Monte Carlo was impounded at the time of Martinez’s arrest.” Cooksey’s notes included the names and phone numbers of “Doug Beatty,” of the “Maricopa Co. Sheriff,” and of the lead prosecutor, “Bob Shutz [sic],” in Martinez’s Arizona case. Martinez argues that these notes are evidence that Cooksey spoke to Arizona prosecutors prior to the Arizona trial. The California prosecutors also gave Martinez a photograph of the Monte Carlo showing an intact ignition. Martinez argues that this photograph shows that the ignition was not “punched” at the time of the crime, and that the photograph was “previously suppressed” by the Arizona prosecutors.