TRIAL DAY 9– potentially the last day of the Rachel Morin case.
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Defendant Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez opts to not testify on his behalf.
We’re in a short recess.
The defense provides a very, very short case. They bring back digital forensic examiner Megan Waltimyer to introduce Morin's search history in the days leading up to her death-- questions that ask if a Facebook relationship can be hidden and if the partner can see if its hidden.
This is, obviously alluding to the defense's theory that it was someone who was jealous/this was a crime of passion.
The jury is charged with what they have to consider-- only the evidence presented in court. It's up to them to decide what the defendant is guilty of.
Victor Martinez- Hernandez is facing:
-1st degree premeditated murder
-1st degree felony murder
-2nd degree murder
-1st degree rape
-2nd degree rape
-3rd degree sexual offense
-kidnapping
He can only be found guilty of one of the murder charges and one of the rape charges. The state is asking for the most severe one: premeditated.
STATE CLOSING ARGUMENTS: State's Attorney Alison Healey begins where this trial started "a mother's worst nightmare". She says the defendant was lying in wait for an unsuspecting victim to be killed in a "horrific, violent, brutal way.”
Healey reviews the panic that sets in after Morin stops responding to texts/calls. Her boyfriend-- Richard Tobin checks everywhere believing she may be cheating because that's bad but it's better than the "terrible thing that becomes his reality.”
The search party members who find Morin's body after stumbling upon bloody rocks with Rachel's "beautiful blonde hair".They discover the trail of blood from the main trial to the tunnels. Like a paint brush had been flicked all around.
Those same blood-soaked rocks had been brought into court to emphasize the brutal beating of Morin. The deep, 15-20 head wounds she sustained.
Healey: there's a clear void where the defendant bashed her head, her blood/skin "splashing" all over the tunnel. It's also where she says he laid her to rape her as she was bleeding out so he wouldn't have to lay in the shallow water.
Healey: Martinez-Hernandez' DNA could not be ruled out as the partial DNA sample found inside Morin's genitals.
Healey: The defendant destroyed Morin's phone and watch in the hopes to cut her off from being tracked and from getting help.
We return to the graphic crime scene images. A reminder that Morin had significant head wounds, she was bloody, bruised and swollen all over.She had signs of strangulation and defensive wounds on the back of her hands showing she tried to stop the assault/fight back.
A reminder that an eyewitness saw a strange man in the woods acting "sneaky" just before seeing Morin set out on her fatal jog.
Morin's tech tells us what time and how the assault occurred. Her airpods stop at 7:06:55.Her energy is consistent until 13 seconds later at 7:07:08 when it drops- the start of the attack and later spikes as she starts to fight back.
That's when Healey says the defendant seeks to silence her-- by bashing her head into the rocks. Her energy burned slows. Based on expert testimony: Morin was likely unconscious based on the brain bleeds.
At 7:09:29 there is no more active energy, her heart rate slows. "She's dying," Healey says.
Back to the DNA. Martinez-Hernandez's DNA matches that found on Morin's left wrist that is deeply bruised, her breasts that have been left exposed, her apple watch.... her neck where she was strangled.
We go over his time living with family in MD, that he later denies knowing. The family that provides his clothing to police after he leaves, unannounced. His dirty black socks "consistent" with the unknown male #1 DNA profile all over the crime scene.
Healey brings up that during his arrest, Martinez-Hernandez lies about his name. He hands off his phone to a security guard who hands it over to police, where investigators find key words, cached images related to the case.
We learn that Martinez-Hernandez lived less than a 10 minute walk from the Ma and Pa trail, making his getaway easy Healey points out.
Healey points out the FBI business card that his roommate had... that he took all the way to Tulsa. He's keeping tabs on the police investigation."Why is he so carefully watching?""They were closing in”
We go over the contradictory statements made during his interrogation:
-says he never lived in MD or VA, says he doesn't have family there
-says he never spoke to his friend Marcos Campos, who testified they lived together in the Summer of '23
-says he doesn't know Rachel Morin
"Denial, after denial, after denial," Healey says.
Call his theory about his DNA being planted by someone named Fatima in El Salvador "absurd.”
Once again another review of the DNA-- visuals show "MATCH" in big, red, capital letters."The evidence doesn't get any stronger than that.”
In the cases where the DNA is not a match, Martinez-Hernandez CANNOT be ruled out-- which is still significant.
Healey: the defendant could have stopped at any time in the 150 feet it took him to drag Morin from the trail to the tunnels.
"Rachel never got to wake up from this nightmare... but she did tell us what happened," Healey says pointing to the DNA on her body linking Martinez-Hernandez to the crime."She did tell the story. Fine him guilty on all counts.”
Jurors were initially advised they wouldn't get a lunch break, but they do with take out from nearby restaurants but can't leave the courtroom. We're back at 2:45 for closing from the defense.
