ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It was a horrific double fatal accident. An elderly couple were killed when Omar Martinez ran a red light and hit them going almost 90 miles per hour. On Thursday, he was sentenced for the crime. The victim’s family passionately asked a judge to give him the maximum sentence and then called on the New Mexico Legislature to wake up.
Court documents show that Martinez had fentanyl, ketamine, and other drugs in his system back in July of 2021 when he flew through a red light and T-boned an SUV in the intersection of Louisiana and Lomas. Inside the other vehicle were Robert and Bonnie Hartwig, who passed away at the hospital.
Martinez was going so fast that this truck exploded and Hartwig’s SUV ended up a block away. He pleaded “no contest” to two counts of homicide by vehicle and DWI back in December.
On Thursday, he was in front of Judge Brit Baca-Miller for a sentencing hearing along with friends and family of the victims. Gary Fricke, Bonnie Hartwig’s brother, spoke at the hearing. He told the judge to give Martinez the maximum sentence of 20 years, especially since he would only have to serve half of the sentence.
In New Mexico, the crime he pled to is not considered a violent offense and he will only have to serve 50% of the sentence. Fricke pointed out that Martinez was allowed to be free after he was arrested months after the crime.
He pointed out to the judge what the Hartwigs missed since their death. “While the defendant was allowed to go, Bonnie and Bob were robbed of many things that they were looking forward to in their future including the marriage of their son, birth of their first grandson, and their well-deserved retirement,” Fricke said.
He also took aim at the legislature for not making homicide by DWI a violent offense, meaning a suspect would have to serve 85% of any jail sentence. Hartwig’s son realized what he had lost when his son was born.
“As I sat there holding him in his room, I looked at the picture of my parents hanging on my wall and realized I would never get to talk to them about being a parent,” he said.
Martinez’s attorney and his family asked for leniency. Judge Baca-Miller said she didn’t believe Martinez had remorse for the accident. She sentenced him to 30 years and that the two crimes would run consecutively and then suspended 10 years.
Martinez will only have to serve 10 years in prison if he receives good time. He will then serve five years of probation.
