Latest news with #Martinez-Hernandez


Fox News
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Trump administration excoriates CNN, MSNBC for not airing Patty Morin's appeal to journalists at White House
White House officials are shaming CNN and MSNBC for not airing Patty Morin's appeal to journalists live at the White House on Wednesday. "SHAMEFUL that @CNN and @MSNBC refuses to take Angel Mom Patty Morin as she recounts the terrible tragedy of how an illegal killed her sweet daughter, Rachel," Steven Cheung, assistant to the president and White House director of communications, posted on X Wednesday. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk replied to Cheung's post on X with a "100" emoji. In another post on X quoting Cheung's post, Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and Homeland Security advisor, said, "CNN's and MSNBC's contempt for the victims of migrant crime is reprehensible." Patty Morin joined White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a Wednesday White House press briefing to talk about her daughter Rachel Morin's August 2023 murder by Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez. CNN and MSNBC did not carry the briefing with Morin live. CNN did play a clip of Patty Morin from the briefing on Thursday afternoon. According to a Grabien Media search, CNN mentioned Rachel Morin on the air each day this week, while MSNBC hasn't mentioned her at all, including on flagship morning show "Morning Joe." Rachel, a Maryland mother of five children, was jogging when Martinez-Hernandez beat, raped and strangled her to death. On Monday, a Maryland jury found Martinez-Hernandez guilty on all counts of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sexual offense and kidnapping. Patty Morin begged journalists in tears to "tell the truth, tell how violent it really is," and said the conversation about immigration "is about protecting our children. It's more than just politics or votes or just anything. It's about national security, protecting Americans, protecting our kids." She also called out Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday "to show solidarity" with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant and suspected MS-13 gang member who lived in Maryland before the administration deported him to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center. Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, went so far as to say that "Comcast outlets spent days misleading the American public—implying that Abrego Garcia was merely a law abiding U.S. citizen, just a regular 'Maryland man.' When the truth comes out, they ignore it." MSNBC is owned by NBCUniversal, a Comcast subsidiary, and CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Carr added that "Comcast knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest. News distortion doesn't cut it." According to a study published Wednesday by the Media Research Center, ABC, CBS, and NBC spent zero seconds on the Martinez-Hernandez trial, but 64 minutes were spent on Abrego Garcia between April 1 and 15. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment as well as CNN and MSNBC, but did not immediately receive a response.


USA Today
16-04-2025
- USA Today
Rachel Morin's mother recounts daughter's death: 'Rips out your heart'
Hear this story The mother of Rachel Morin, the Maryland woman who was fatally attacked on a popular hiking trail in a Baltimore suburb in 2023, was invited to the White House, a day after a Salvadoran man was found guilty in the case that became a flashpoint during the 2024 presidential campaign. Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 24, was convicted of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sex offense and kidnapping on April 14, according to the Harford County State's Attorney's Office. A Maryland jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning the guilty verdict, CBS Baltimore and The Baltimore Banner reported. Rachel Morin's mother, Patty Morin, was invited as a "special guest" at an April 16 White House briefing. She shared details about her daughter and how she was attacked, noting that the hiking trail had been a "safe place" for their family. "When she went on that trail that day, she was not planning on dying," she said. "She wasn't planning on walking to her death." Authorities accused Martinez-Hernandez of killing Rachel Morin, 37, a mother of five who vanished in August 2023 while walking on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, a town northeast of Baltimore. He was arrested in Oklahoma in June 2024 following a nationwide search. Authorities also accused Martinez-Hernandez of entering the U.S. without authorization in February 2023 after allegedly killing a different woman in his home country of El Salvador. He was then linked to an assault in Los Angeles during a March 2023 home invasion through DNA evidence. "This case shook our Harford County community and robbed a family of their daughter, sister, mother, and friend," Alison Healey, the Harford County State's Attorney, said in a statement. "It is my sincere hope that today's verdict brings some peace and closure to the entire Morin family." Martinez-Hernandez is being held at the Harford County Detention Center without bail, according to online inmate records. The Harford County State's Attorney's Office said it "intends to seek the maximum penalty allowable by law," which includes life without the possibility of parole on the murder charge, a life sentence on the rape charge and additional years on the remaining charges. Kilmar Abrego Garcia case: Judge admonishes U.S. for failing to return Maryland man wrongly deported to El Salvador What happened to Rachel Morin? Rachel Morin's boyfriend reported her missing when she failed to return home from her walk on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail on Aug. 5, 2023, according to authorities. Morin was last seen on the trail at around 6 p.m., and her vehicle was found near the footpath. The next day, Harford County Sheriff's deputies discovered Rachel Morin's body in a wooded area near the trail and said she was a "victim of a violent homicide." Prosecutors alleged that Martinez-Hernandez had planned the attack and was waiting in the woods before attacking Rachel Morin shortly after she entered the trail. Health data on Rachel Morin's cell phone and Apple Watch showed that she was pulled about 150 feet from the main trail into the woods, prosecutors said. Evidence presented during the trial revealed that Martinez-Hernandez concealed Rachel Morin in drainage culverts just off the trail, where she was beaten, raped and killed, according to prosecutors. "(Morin) spent her day as she often did. Spending time with her children and boyfriend, working out at a local gym, running errands, and finally, taking a walk on the Ma & Pa trail," Healey said. "Witnesses testified that her time on the trail was 'her peace,' and she never could have predicted that on that day that she would never see or speak to her children again." Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) said the Harford County Sheriff's Office requested assistance from its Baltimore office on Aug. 17, 2023, and relayed information that a person of interest in the investigation had been involved in a home invasion in Los Angeles. On that same day, authorities announced a DNA connection between Rachel Morin's suspected killer and a man who assaulted a girl and her mother during the home invasion. Prosecutors said DNA evidence that was recovered from parts of Rachel Morin's body also matched the DNA of the suspect. Who is Jocelyn Nungaray? Trump honors 12-year-old girl murdered at Texas bridge Attack leads to 10-month search for suspect Rachel Morin's death shocked the community of Bel Air and sparked a 10-month nationwide search for the suspect. On Sept. 7, 2023, the Harford County Sheriff's Office said in an update that investigators had "collected and watched hours of video footage" from the trail. Authorities later released a finalized sketch of the suspect on Feb. 12, 2024, but a name was not formally released. HSI said the Maryland State Police Crime Lab notified the Harford County Sheriff's Office on June 14, 2024, that it had matched DNA recovered from Martinez-Hernandez's clothing to DNA recovered at the scene of Rachel Morin's murder. Authorities were then able to track Martinez-Hernandez to a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and local police officers arrested him, according to HSI. He was booked into the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Center and later transferred to Maryland. Prosecutors alleged that Martinez-Hernandez claimed he had never been to Maryland. But multiple witnesses and business records said he had been living and working in Bel Air at the time of the murder. Following his arrest in Oklahoma, prosecutors said Martinez-Hernandez's phone was seized and authorities discovered photos and screenshots of Rachel Morin. Patty Morin on her daughter's death: 'Rips out your heart' Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt introduced Patty Morin on April 16 after defending the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an unrelated case in which a Maryland man was wrongly removed from the country in March. "If you're a mother here in the room, can you imagine standing there alive, you're alive, someone comes and puts their hands into your chest and rips out your heart," Patty Morin said of her daughter's death. "That's what it feels like." A month after Martinez-Hernandez's arrest, Rachel Morin's family took the podium at the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin to talk about losing their loved one, one in a series of speakers who shared their personal experiences with crime or substance abuse in the past four years. "Joe Biden and his designated border czar, Kamala Harris, opened our borders to him and others like him, empowering him to victimize the innocent. Yet, to this day, we have not heard from Joe Biden or Kamala Harris," Michael Morin, a brother of Rachel Morin, told the crowd in Milwaukee in July 2024. "But when Rachel was killed, President Trump called my family to offer his condolences." President Donald Trump, who came into office in January, has promised to reform U.S. immigration policy. He met with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele on April 14, a leader praised by the administration for opening his country's prison system to alleged gang members and detainees that Trump wants out of the United States. "I think he's doing a fantastic job, and he's taking care of a lot of problems that we have that we really wouldn't be able to take care of from a cost standpoint," Trump told reporters about Bukele, referring to the cost of imprisoning the detainees in El Salvador. Contributing: Jonathan Limehouse and JJ Hensley, USA TODAY; Reuters (This story was updated to add new information.)
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Yahoo
Rachel Morin case: Sentencing expected after psychological evaluation and investigation
BALTIMORE — Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, the man found guilty of raping and killing Rachel Morin on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in August 2023, will undergo a psychosexual evaluation and a background investigation before his sentencing, as required by state law and a request by the Harford County State's Attorney's Office. A jury found Martinez-Hernandez guilty of first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sex offense and kidnapping relating to Morin's death in less than an hour of deliberation, Monday. The maximum penalty for each of his charges are: —First-degree premeditated murder – life without possibility of parole —First-degree rape – life —Third-degree sex offense – 10 years —Kidnapping – 30 years However, the Maryland State Sentencing Guidelines for each offense are recommendations, Healey said. The presiding judge in the case, Harford County Circuit Court Judge Yolanda Curtin, can give Martinez-Hernandez a higher or lower sentence for each of the charges at her discretion. Since the maximum penalty for first-degree premeditated murder is life without the possibility of parole, state law requires Martinez-Hernandez to be subject to a pre-sentencing investigation so the state can learn of his upbringing, mental health issues, prior offenses and other background information for Curtin to consider during sentencing. Harford County State's Attorney Alison Healey, the lead prosecutor in the case, said she will request that Martinez-Hernandez be given the maximum penalty for each of the charges. Since Martinez-Hernandez was also found guilty of first-degree rape and third-degree sex offense, Healey requested that Martinez-Hernandez undergo a psychosexual evaluation. The evaluation serves as a risk assessment tool for the state to gauge Martinez-Hernandez's sexual interests, behaviors and attitudes to gauge if he might reoffend. 'It is just another tool in serious sex offense cases I generally always ask for,' Healey said. 'It can give us additional information to potentially use during sentencing.' A sentencing date for Martinez-Hernandez has yet to be scheduled due to the 60 to 90 day time period required for the psychosexual evaluation and pre-sentencing investigation to be completed. Monday's verdict brought the nine-day jury trial to a close and prevented Martinez-Hernandez, who entered the United States illegally in 2023, from being deported back to El Salvador, as he is expected to serve his sentence in the United States. Martinez-Hernandez, like all defendants, has the right to file a motion for a new trial. The basis for a new trial is very limited and likely not possible for Martinez-Hernandez, Healey said. 'There would have to be some new information, newly discovered evidence or something to that effect,' Healey said. 'The chances are slim to none. There is not going to be anything new to my knowledge.' The three public defenders who served as Martinez-Hernandez's legal council said they are considering their legal options and are now focused on the trial's punishment phase. 'We are disappointed in the verdict, which will be reviewed by our team,' they said in a joint statement. 'We will now focus on sentencing and ensuring that Mr. Martinez Hernandez has a fair process that balances all of the relevant factors.' Morin's death and Martinez-Hernandez's arrest became a political talking point on illegal immigration for then-candidate Donald Trump in his 2024 campaign for president. Trump spoke with Morin's mother, Patricia Morin, and other family members numerous times before inviting them to attend the Republican National Convention in July. There, Morin's brother Michael addressed a crowd of thousands, telling them his sister 'was raped and murdered by a suspected illegal immigrant' in what has been 'described as among the most brutal and violent offenses that has ever occurred in Harford County, Maryland history.' Morin's mother also testified before Congress on numerous occasions regarding illegal immigration leading up to Martinez-Hernandez's trial. The Republican President mentioned Martinez-Hernandez's verdict on his social media platform, Truth Social, yesterday, calling Morin's death heinous and taking aim at illegal immigration. 'Rachel was a beautiful mother of five from Maryland, and her life was taken at the hands of a monster who should have never been here in the first place,' Trump wrote. 'We will never forget Rachel Morin, and are committed to protecting women like her across our Country.' Following Martinez-Hernandez's sentencing in the coming months, the Division of Corrections will decide what corrections facility he will be sent to. Martinez-Hernandez is currently held at the Harford County Detention Center without bond. _____
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Yahoo
Rachel Morin case: Martinez-Hernandez found guilty in the 2023 killing
BALTIMORE — The man suspected of raping and killing Rachel Morin on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in August 2023 was found guilty after a nine day jury trial ended Monday. The jury deliberated for a little more than an hour before finding that Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez was guilty of charges including pre-meditated murder and rape. Martinez-Hernandez, a Salvadoran native who illegally entered the United States in 2023, was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June 2024, after investigators used DNA found on Morin's body to identify his family members, who provided police with information about him. He was charged with first-degree rape, first-degree murder and other charges relating to the death of the 37-year-old Bel Air mother of five who was reported missing by her boyfriend on Aug. 5, 2023, hours after she went for a walk on the trail in Bel Air. Harford County State's Attorney Alison Healey delivered the state's closing arguments. Healey walked jurors, step by step, through the time leading up to Morin's death and the attack, to the moment her body was found and the hunt for Martinez-Hernandez. Linking Martinez-Hernandez to the scene through DNA evidence found on Morin's Body, her Apple Watch and blood spatter on the tunnel she was found in, Healey told jurors that the 'overwhelming' amount of evidence showed that Martinez-Hernandez 'had a plan' to drag a woman off of the trail and rape and kill her. 'That woman was Rachel Morin,' Healey said. 'Rachel never got to wake up from her nightmare, but her body told us what happened.' Healey outlined the charges against Martinez-Hernandez and their definitions, ending each definition with 'check' to tell jurors she believed Martinez-Hernandez was guilty. Defense attorney Marcus Jenkins tried to raise doubt that Martinez-Hernandez killed Morin based on the witness testimony from Kevin Stacy, who said he saw a man in the woods the night Morin was killed that looked 'nothing like' Martinez-Hernandez. Jenkins alluded to the idea that the man described in the woods — 6 feet tall, muscular with a blonde beard — describes Morin's boyfriend, Richard Tobin. Jenkins noted Morin's internet search history about hiding a relationship status on Facebook and other queries about relationships. Tobin's demeanor when he testified after the opening statements, Jenkins said, is 'evidence too.' Jenkins questioned how the DNA evidence was collected, speculating that it had been contaminated. Jenkins also said that, of the months Martinez-Hernandez could have been 'on the run,' he remained in Bel Air for four months and only searched the Morin case on his phone one to two times, according this phone's search dictionary. 'Wouldn't you be looking for information on a daily basis? Not just once or twice,' Jenkins said. Investigators rebuilt Morin's destroyed iPhone XR found at the scene and determined through messages to her daughters and Apple Watch health data recorded on her phone that the attack occurred when her heart rate jumped to 115 beats per minute at 7:07 p.m. It dropped to 69 beats per minute at 7:09 p.m. A 150-foot blood trail led to Morin's body, naked in a drainage tunnel off of the trail with 15-20 cuts on her head and injuries all over her body from what investigators called a 'massive attack.' Morin's death and Martinez-Hernandez's arrest attracted national attention as the case grew to become a political talking point on the campaign trail for President Donald Trump about the dangers of illegal immigration. Morin's family was invited to the Republican National Convention in July, and Morin's mother, Patricia Morin, has testified before Congress about illegal immigration numerous times. Even so, prosecutors and defense attorneys focused only on facts and evidence associated with Morin's death and objected to any questioning that has been irrelevant to the case. Martinez-Hernandez's immigration status and prior allegations that he killed a woman in El Salvador before entering the United States and assaulted a mother and daughter in Los Angeles were not mentioned in the courtroom. Friends, family and coworkers of Martinez-Hernandez testified through Spanish interpreters, confirming that he was in Bel Air at the time of the attack and that he worked at Barrett's On The Pike and the Bel Air Popeyes restaurants. In December 2023, Martinez-Hernandez went to live with his cousin and aunt in Prince George's County. FBI agents came to the apartment and questioned Martinez-Hernandez's cousin, Jose Hernandez, while Martinez-Hernandez stayed outside, avoiding them. Investigators used DNA swabs from the clothes left by Martinez-Hernandez at the home in Prince George's County after he left unexpectedly in May 2024. They connected Martinez-Hernandez's DNA to an unknown DNA profile on the front of Morin's neck, her breast, her left wrist and the Apple Watch that was found smashed on the opposite side of the trail. Police obtained an arrest warrant for Martinez-Hernandez on June 14, 2024, and then pinged the cell phone number his family gave to police to locate him at Los Dos Amigos Sports Bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Within hours, Tulsa police placed Martinez-Hernandez under arrest. He told police his name was Juan Carlos but was identified as Martinez-Hernandez because of the gaps in his teeth. While in custody, Martinez-Hernandez also told investigators he had not been to Maryland and never hurt anyone before because he 'served God' — despite his cell phone, home security footage, social media posts and witness testimony placing him in Bel Air. ---------------
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Yahoo
Rachel Morin case's verdict likely today. Here's what's happened so far.
BALTIMORE — A verdict in the trial for Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, the man charged with killing Rachel Morin on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in August 2023, is expected today after prosecutors rested their case last week. The prosecution, Harford County State's Attorney Alison Healey and Deputy State's Attorney David Ryden, closed their eight-day argument Friday following testimony from a forensic scientist with the Maryland State Police who tested Martinez-Hernandez's DNA and linked him to the crime scene. Martinez-Hernandez, a 24-year-old Salvadoran native, was arrested in June 2024 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is charged with first-degree rape and first-degree murder and related charges in connection to Morin's death. Morin's death and Martinez-Hernandez's arrest attracted national attention as the case grew to become a political talking point on the campaign trail for President Donald Trump on illegal immigration. Morin's family was invited to the Republican National Convention in July, and Morin's mother, Patricia Morin, has testified before Congress regarding illegal immigration numerous times. Immigration status and prior allegations of Martinez-Hernandez allegedly killing a woman in El Salvador before entering the United States and allegedly assaulting a mother and daughter in Los Angeles have not been mentioned in the courtroom, despite the political climate surrounding the case. Prosecutors and defense attorneys have focused entirely on facts and evidence associated with Morin's death and objected to any questioning that has been irrelevant to the case. The trial began April 1 with jury selection, which ran through April 2. Two jurors ended up being dismissed for unknown reasons. One was an elderly Black woman serving as an alternate juror who was dismissed the day of opening statements, and the other was a white man dismissed on the sixth day of trial. The court took a break April 3 and began opening statements and testimony from Morin's two oldest daughters and her boyfriend the next day. Prosecutors utilized the early days of the trial to build the scene for jurors by detailing witness testimony when Morin went missing, how she was found and what was discovered at the crime scene. Images of Morin, the scene, evidence and her autopsy were utilized to emphasize the scale of the attack the Bel Air mother of five endured while she was on a run the evening of Aug. 5, 2023. Each day, the gallery of the courtroom was filled with friends, family and members of the public interested in the case. Morin's mother and other family members sat behind the prosecution each day of the trail. The testimonies were emotional and caused many in the courtroom to cry. Jurors often had perplexed looks on their faces while leaning in to observe exhibits and hear testimony. One testimony described the moment a man and his girlfriend were walking their dog on the trail and noticed a 'sneaky' man in the woods wearing sunglasses and a sweatshirt with the hood up holding a walking stick that was later identified as a shovel. The witness, Kyle Stacy, described the man in the woods as broad-shouldered, muscular, 6 feet tall and with a blond beard. Martinez-Hernandez is 5'9, according to court documents, with black facial hair and wide shoulders. Police recovered the shovel in the woods away from where Morin's body was found. An evidentiary image of the shovel displayed in court showed an investigator swabbing the spade tip of the shovel. When asked what the hand holding the swab in the photo was doing to the shovel by prosecutors, a testifying detective said 'swabbing for DNA.' However, the DNA expert that linked Martinez-Hernandez to the crime scene said Friday that state police did not receive DNA from the spade tip from the Harford County Sheriff's Office and that the swabs she did receive had trace amount of male DNA but nothing conclusive. Another testimony was from a woman who reported Morin's body to police after her friend located Morin in the tunnel. The 911 call audio was played in which the woman could be heard frantic, crying and telling dispatchers she was going to 'throw up' or 'pass out.' Morin's friends and family had flushed faces and patted tears from their eyes as the audio played out. Healey and Ryden outlined the investigative measures taken by law enforcement to gather DNA evidence and digital forensic evidence, including health data from Morin's phone and Apple Watch that showed the exact moments leading up to her attack, and security footage showing the last places she visited before her run that evening. Friends, family and coworkers of Martinez-Hernandez testified through Spanish interpreters, confirming that he was in Bel Air at the time of the attack and that he worked at Barrett's On The Pike and the Bel Air Popeyes restaurants. Martinez-Hernandez's Bel Air roommates testified that he had lived at more than one address in and around the downtown Bel Air area — less than a mile from the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail. He would often go to the Chili's in Bel Air to drink at the bar, they said. The general manager of the Bel Air Popeyes, Ana Trejo, told jurors that when Martinez-Hernandez applied for a job, he provided her with the name 'Roberto Cantos.' In December 2023, Martinez-Hernandez went to live with his cousin and aunt in Prince George's County. FBI agents came to the apartment there and questioned Martinez-Hernandez's cousin, Jose Hernandez, while Martinez-Hernandez stayed outside, avoiding them. The agency had run the crime scene DNA through an investigative tool known as forensic genetic genealogy to create a family tree of a suspect's potential relatives to glean leads. After issues arose between Martinez-Hernandez and his cousin over Martinez-Hernandez not paying rent, he unexpectedly left the home in May 2024, Hernandez testified. Hernandez said that Martinez-Hernandez contacted him after he'd left, asking if he would buy him a ticket to Texas under his cousin's name, which Hernandez said he declined. Each person to testify who knew, lived with or worked with Martinez-Hernandez was accompanied by a court-certified Spanish interpreter. Martinez-Hernandez often looked at the ground and sank into his chair, avoiding eye contact with former co-workers, friends and family. Expert witnesses briefly explained how Martinez-Hernandez was identified as a suspect using DNA and how his cellphone was pinged at Los Dos Amigos Sports Bar in Tulsa on June 14, 2024. Officers from the Tulsa Police Department outlined Martinez-Hernandez's arrest and said he gave them the name of Juan Carlos before police confirmed his identity because of gaps in his teeth. Investigators recovered a bus ticket from Memphis, Tennessee, to Tulsa in a bookbag when they searched the home Martinez-Hernandez had been living in. Investigators also recovered the business card of the FBI agent who'd visited in Prince Georges County. While in custody, Martinez-Hernandez told investigators he had not been to Maryland and never hurt anyone before because he 'served God' — despite his cellphone, home security footage, social media posts and witness testimony placing him in Bel Air. He told police that he believed his DNA was planted at the scene and that he never knew Morin or had any idea who she was. Socks recovered from a bag of dirty clothes at the home in Prince George's County matched DNA evidence to the profile investigators were calling 'Unknown Male 1' that was found on the front of Morin's neck, her left wrist, her breast and her smashed Apple Watch. After Martinez-Hernandez was arrested, his DNA swabs matched the DNA on the socks. Authorities ultimately renamed the DNA profile of Unknown Male 1 to Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez. Defense attorneys Sawyer Hicks, Marcus Jenkins and Tara LeCompte are expected to call witnesses today. The presiding judge in the case, Harford County Circuit Court Judge Yolanda Curtin, said closing arguments and jury deliberation is expected to take place later in the day. Prosecutors are looking to sentence Martinez-Hernandez to life without parole. ---------------