After 4 Years, Tale Ends in Freedom
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg, Florida June 8, 2001

DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN

Abstract:
He was greeted by a throng of reporters, most of whom had traveled from Spain to cover the retrial that ended in his acquittal Wednesday. Martinez's release was broadcast live on television in Spain, a country that raised $500,000 for his defense.

Martinez was sent to death row in 1997 when he was 25 after being convicted of killing Douglas Lawson and Sherrie McCoy-Ward in their Clair Mel home in October 1995. Lawson was shot several times with a 9mm pistol; McCoy-Ward was shot and stabbed as she tried to reach the front door to escape. Lawson once worked with Martinez at a warehouse and prosecutors contended Martinez went to his home to buy marijuana.

Spanish reporters interviewed Martinez at the Cuban Club in Ybor City after his release Thursday. Martinez was accompanied by the Spanish consul in Miami, Javier Vallaure.

As Joaquin Martinez signed the paperwork for his release from jail Thursday, he started to cry and his hands began to shake.

"He was a very terrified young man," Dave Parry, one of his attorneys, said later. "It was the most scared I had ever seen him, other than when the verdict was read."

Martinez, a Spanish citizen who spent three years on Florida's death row before winning a retrial, had a nervous smile as he walked out of the Orient Road Jail shortly before noon Thursday, his arms wrapped around his parents.

He was greeted by a throng of reporters, most of whom had traveled from Spain to cover the retrial that ended in his acquittal Wednesday. Martinez's release was broadcast live on television in Spain, a country that raised $500,000 for his defense.

Martinez held on to his mother as Spanish reporters shoved microphones, tape recorders and cell phones in his face.

"I've dreamed of this day, but I never thought it would be like this," said Martinez, 29. "I want

to cry. I want to laugh. But most of all, I want to see my daughters."

Martinez, who is a legal alien, was kept in jail overnight while the Immigration and Naturalization Service finished paperwork.

"I couldn't sleep," Martinez said, describing his last night in jail. "I was afraid that I would wake up and find out this was not true."

Martinez was sent to death row in 1997 when he was 25 after being convicted of killing Douglas Lawson and Sherrie McCoy-Ward in their Clair Mel home in October 1995. Lawson was shot several times with a 9mm pistol; McCoy-Ward was shot and stabbed as she tried to reach the front door to escape. Lawson once worked with Martinez at a warehouse and prosecutors contended Martinez went to his home to buy marijuana.

Martinez's parents, Joaquin and Sara Martinez of Miami, hired Peter Raben, an appellate lawyer in their hometown.

Last year, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new trial because a detective improperly told the jury he thought that Martinez was guilty and a prosecutor repeated the statement in closing arguments.

After Raben won the appeal, the Martinezes asked him to defend their son in the new trial. Raben solicited the help of Parry, a former public defender now working in the Clearwater office of Bauer, Crider and Pellegrino.

Sara Martinez met with the king of Spain and won his support. The pope also spoke out against the case, because of the Catholic Church's opposition to the death penalty.

Martinez became a cause celebre in Spain, his father's birth country. A documentary and a movie based on the case are in the works.

He became the 22nd person condemned to die in Florida since 1972 who ultimately was released from death row because of a wrongful conviction. Florida leads the nation in such cases.

Spanish reporters interviewed Martinez at the Cuban Club in Ybor City after his release Thursday. Martinez was accompanied by the Spanish consul in Miami, Javier Vallaure.

From the top floor of the Cuban Club, Martinez looked outside.

"I see clouds, I see trees," he said. "I feel like I am living in a dream right now."

While the victims' families still believe Martinez is guilty, he maintains his innocence and said he will now spend his life speaking out against false convictions.

"It's a nightmare," he said. "I do not wish it on anyone in the world."

After signing his release papers, he walked to the jail bathroom with Parry to collect himself. He looked in the mirror and saw his reflection for the first time in four years. In jail, the only thing close to a mirror was a metal pan.

"I've got gray hair," he said to Parry.

He said later that he was shocked at his appearance.

"This is me," he said he thought to himself sadly. "I was in shock."

Martinez will return to Spain with his parents on Saturday.

"It's been a long journey," he said. "I am going to make the most of my new life."