Co-Defendant in Murder Case Gets 17-Year Sentence

Despite pleas by a prosecutor and the victim’s family for a longer prison term, a judge on Friday sentenced David E. Hayes of Palm Springs to 17 years behind bars in the strangulation murder of a Santa Ana man.

Hayes, 26, convicted of first-degree murder, could have been sentenced to serve 25 years to life in prison.

At one time, Hayes thought he had an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for his testimony against co-defendant Robert W. Clark.

But Clark, who strangled David L. Martinez in Martinez’s car during a robbery on Jan. 1, 1984, escaped two years ago from the Orange County Jail.

The proposed plea bargain involving Hayes fell apart with Clark’s escape and the assignment of a new prosecutor to the case.

Clark was caught a week after the escape and is now serving a life-without-parole sentence for Martinez’s murder.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Leonard H. McBride said Friday that because Hayes had maintained that he wanted to reach an agreement with the prosecutor, it would serve “justice and equity” to sentence him to only 15 years to life in prison. The additional two years were added for Hayes’ violation of probation on a prior burglary conviction.

Hayes’ family, including his 4-year-old son, watched as Hayes pleaded tearfully before McBride and apologized to members of the Martinez family in the courtroom.

Hayes told the judge his problems began at an early age because of a broken home.

“But everything I’ve ever done is my fault,” he told the judge.

Then the defendant turned to the Martinez family and said in a choking voice: “I’d like to express my sympathy and my sorrow to the Martinez family. I hope that one day they can forgive me.”

Joseph C. Martinez, the victim’s father, told McBride a lesser sentence than first-degree murder would be an injustice because Hayes was as responsible as Clark for his son’s death.

“I feel sorry for his family, just like I am sorry for my own family,” Martinez said. “But he’s got his boy. Ours is dead and will never see the two children he left behind.”