A former lieutenant at Brooklyn’s federal jail got too light a prison sentence for repeatedly raping an inmate, an appeals court ruled, stating the sentencing judge got it wrong by doubting the victim.
Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Edward Korman gave “dramatically insufficient weight to the seriousness” of Carlos Martinez’s crime when he handed down a 10-year sentence in 2022, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.
Martinez, 54, repeatedly raped an inmate referred to as “Maria,” whom he ordered to clean his office at the Metropolitan Detention Center for five months from 2015 to 2016, a jury found in February 2020. He’s been locked up since his indictment, and his 10-year sentence is slated to end in December 2025.
Prosecutors were asking for at least 20 years, and the jail’s former warden wanted Martinez put away for life.
But in April 2022, Korman sentenced him to just a decade behind bars, stating that he didn’t believe that Maria acquiesced to having sex with Martinez out of fear of threats or force, “and the jury didn’t believe that.”
A three-judge appeals panel on Tuesday ruled that Korman’s “conclusions were based on a fundamental misreading of the trial record.”
“Contrary to the district court’s (Korman’s) view, Maria repeatedly testified that Martinez threatened her with harmful consequences if she resisted his advances or reported him to prison authorities, that his threats succeeded in intimidating her, and that these fears dissuaded her from fighting back or taking other actions to stop the abuse,” the appeals panel wrote.
Maria had a job as a cleaner on the jail’s second floor, which housed the lieutenants’ offices, and starting in August 2015, Martinez started asking that she clean his office, she testified.
When they were alone, he made overtures and sexual remarks, and within a few months, he forced himself on her and raped her, she said. The assault left her bleeding, and Martinez told her not to say anything, implying she would wind up in solitary confinement or she may lose good time credit.
He raped her five times in total, at one point giving her a morning-after pill, she testified.
Martinez’s conviction took a winding path through Korman’s court. He was first convicted at trial of five counts of sexual abuse of a ward in 2018, as well as aggravated sexual abuse and other offenses.
But after prosecutors disclosed they didn’t give the defense a memo detailing an interview with another inmate who said Maria told her she was “having relations” with Martinez, Korman overturned several of the charges and ordered a new trial. The sexual abuse of a ward convictions remained intact.
Jesse Ward for New York Daily News
Brooklyn Federal Judge Edward Korman. (Jesse Ward for New York Daily News)
The second trial ended in a mixed verdict, with Martinez guilty of five counts each of sexual abuse by threat or fear, and one count each of depriving the victim of her civil rights and aggravated sexual abuse. The jury acquitted on a number of other counts.
Korman focused on Martinez’s military service at his sentencing, and at one point said, “I have to accept the jury’s verdict despite my own qualms about her credibility.”
He also referred to the Martinez as “not a violent criminal,” a finding the appeals court decided was “clearly erroneous.”
“The jury found Martinez guilty of raping Maria by force, an indisputably violent crime,” the appeals court ruled.
The panel added, “A court may not pick and choose which convictions it agrees with and sentence a defendant as if he had been convicted only of those crimes.”
The appeals panel also rejected Martinez’s arguments that the prosecutors didn’t present sufficient evidence to back up two of the charges against him.
Martinez’s case will go back to Korman for re-sentencing at a later date. The judge did not return a message seeking comment.
Martinez’s lawyer, Anthony Ricco, declined comment on the appeal court’s decision.
Maria sued the U.S. government and Martinez in 2018, along with another former lieutenant at the MDC, Eugenio Perez, over the sexual assaults. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount.
Perez was also convicted in 2018 of sexually assaulting Maria and three other inmates is serving a 25-year prison sentence.
“Our client, known as Maria, has suffered terribly. We are pleased the 2nd Circuit has credited the jury’s findings and is requiring an appropriate re-sentencing,” said Daniel Mullkoff, of the law firm Cuti Hecker Wang LLP.
