The Cameron County District Attorney’s Office is expected to render a decision by the end of the business day Monday as to whether or not it will seek the death penalty against a Brownsville man accused in the Nov. 2, 2020 shooting death of his ex-wife Adela Gonzalez Martinez.
The DA’s office made the announcement at the pre-trial hearing before 138th state District Court Judge Gabriela Garcia for Jose Arnoldo Rodriguez, 37, who is charged with capital murder, solicitation to commit capital murder and burglary of habitation with intent to comment other felony.
During the Monday afternoon pre-trial hearing there appeared to be some confusion as to what attorney would be representing Rodriguez in his capital murder trial. Although defense attorney Ernesto Gamez had been appointed to represent Rodriguez, his wife Cynthia Olvera sought to hire a different attorney.
Much of Monday’s hearing dealt with as to who would present Rodriguez.
Although Rodriguez’s wife mentioned the name of another Brownsville attorney she was trying to hire for her husband, Rodriguez said he had never made contact with the attorney and wanted Gamez to represent him. “I have every faith in him,” Rodriguez told Garcia.
According to grand jury indictments and criminal charges, investigators allege that the ex-husband hired two men to kill the mother of his children. A motive for her killing is unknown. The men charged in her death are refusing to talk, police said.
Rodriguez and suspects Charly Angel Carrillo Torres and Jonathan Xavier Roman Martinez are each charged with murder in Gonzalez Martinez’s death. All three of the men have pleaded not guilty.
The DA’s office announced earlier that it would not seek the death penalty against Roman Martinez.
