Another pretrial hearing was set Friday for the retrial of a man who was shot when he allegedly menaced police with a baseball bat.
Anthony Rudolfo Martinez, charged with felony menacing during a Dec. 5, 2012, incident west of Ignacio, is scheduled to appear at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 3 before 6th Judicial Distict Judge Suzanne Carlson.
The first trial ended in a mistrial in July when jurors couldn’t reach agreement.
John Moran, who is defending Martinez, told Carlson on Friday that the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, whose officers were involved in the 2012 incident, might refuse to honor subpoenas he intends to serve.
Moran brought up two other issues: A key witness has moved out of state, and prosecutors want the court to bar defense introduction of photos that they say make two state witnesses look like thugs.
Keith Mandelski, deputy district attorney in the 7th Judicial District (Gunnison County), participated in the hearing Friday by telephone.
The 7th Judicial District is prosecuting Martinez because of a conflict of interest in the case: Southern Ute police officer Joseph Backer, who shot Martinez, is the son of Larry Backer, the chief investigator for the 6th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Durango.
Moran will try to gain the right to subpoena tribal witnesses. He and Carlson discussed several approaches.
In the first trial, prosecutors said Martinez ran at three Southern Ute police officers with a baseball bat raised over his right shoulder about 3:40 a.m. on Dec. 5, 2012.
Backer fired two shots, one of them hitting Martinez in the back.
Officers were in the area to visit a house where there had been problems.
Defense attorneys said Martinez believed he was defending himself. They questioned events, asking how Martinez, then 24, could have been hit in the back if he was advancing on the officers.
daler@duangoherald.com
