This is an update to a story El Tejano first reported on October 24.
https://www.eltejanorgv.com/jury-must-pick-death-or-life-for-killer-of-san-benito-officer/
A jury has made its choice. On Monday, Oct. 26, it sentenced Rogelio Martinez Jr., 21, to death. He was found guilty of killing San Benito police Lt. Milton Resendez on Oct. 17, 2023.
The hearing was in Brownsville. Judge Ricardo Adobbati ran the court. The jury met for nearly nine hours over three days.
It all began with a traffic stop. A park ranger tried to stop a car on South Padre Island. A chase followed. It lasted for hours. It went to Brownsville and then to San Benito. That is where Lt. Resendez was shot. The chase ended back in Brownsville. Texas DPS disabled the car there. Two men were taken in.
The other man is Rodrigo Axel Espinosa Valdez, 26. He is a Mexican national. He had pleaded guilty to a lesser murder charge.
The jury found Martinez guilty on Oct. 8. That took 3 hours and 15 minutes. The next part began on Oct. 19. The jury had to pick a sentence. Defense lawyers brought experts and family. They asked for life without parole.
Luis V. Saenz is the county's top prosecutor. He did not agree. He said the defense made it sound like "poor, poor Rogelio." He said life in prison is still life. "He gets to live," Saenz said.
Martinez showed no emotion as he was sentenced. He showed none during the victim statements, either.
The officer's wife, Melissa, spoke to him. "You took my husband's life," she said. She never thought she would talk about her husband in the past tense. She said he deserved to finish his shift and come home. "There's no sentence that can bring him back," she said.
Court and prison records show Martinez is now the youngest inmate on Texas death row.
