Grand Jury to Examine Westminster Police Slaying

The Orange County Grand Jury will begin hearing testimony next week about the slaying earlier this summer of 18-year-old Frank Martinez by a Westminster police officer.

Grand jury foreman James Lindberg said Thursday the proceeding had been started by the district attorney’s office, which has been investigating the July shooting of Martinez during a back-yard birthday party for his mother.

Lindberg said the grand jury will begin taking testimony in the case Tuesday. He said he understood that “several people” had received subpoenas, but he did not know how many.

“The D.A. is going to bring it (the case) to us,” he said, “but I don’t know their plans or their motive.”

Jose Zorrilla Jr., an Anaheim lawyer who represents the family of the dead man and has filed a $110-million claim against Westminster, said Thursday that several members of the Martinez family, including Martinez’s parents, had received subpoenas.

Zorrilla said he had heard that grand jury subpoenas had been issued for about 50 witnesses, including the police officer who fired the fatal bullet and others who were at the scene.

The officers involved in the shooting have never been publicly identified.

Tom Broderson, public information officer for the Westminster Police Department, said when asked Thursday about the grand jury’s involvement: “There’s no comment from the police department until we receive the district attorney’s report.”

Richard F. Toohey, the deputy district attorney who is handling the case, would say only that his investigation is continuing.

Zorrilla said it is not uncommon for the district attorney’s office to take cases involving a police shooting to a grand jury for a decision on whether charges should be lodged.

‘A Lot Easier for Them’

“They work with police officers every day,” Zorrilla said about the district attorney’s staff. “It’s a lot easier for them to have the grand jury accuse a police officer.”

The shooting, which has strained relations between police and neighborhood residents, happened July 15 outside the home of Frank Martinez’s parents.

The police account of the shooting differs considerably from accounts given by Martinez family members who witnessed the incident and from a scenario compiled by a private investigator the family hired.

According to the police account, officers were searching for a suspected gang member in connection with an attack earlier in the evening when they stopped Martinez’s brother, Joel, on a street near the home.

Joel Martinez appeared to be hiding something behind his back, police said. When officers attempted to grab him, a struggle started, and Frank Martinez tried to come to his brother’s aid.

Frank Martinez, according to police, ran into his parents’ home, then a scuffle with him spilled into the back-yard party.

Martinez was shot to death, police said, as he scuffled with officers and threatened a fallen officer with a beer bottle.

Westminster Police Chief James Cook contended shortly after the shooting that the officers had acted properly.

According to the account of the Martinez family and their private investigator, James W. Box of Orange, during the incident police yelled racial slurs at the Martinezes and their party guests and neighbors.

When Joel Martinez refused to answer questions put to him by officers, an officer put a wrestling hold on him, according to family members.

Frank Martinez made no threats with a beer bottle or otherwise to the officers before he was shot, the family contends.

Zorrilla said Thursday that Box, the private investigator, determined that Martinez had been shot as he tried to escape from a beating at the hands of the three or four officers at the scene.

Zorrilla said he and the Martinez family are outraged that the officers involved were back on the street shortly after the shooting.

Lost Faith in Authorities

Martinez’s father, Joel Sr., said Thursday that he is pleased that the grand jury will be looking into the incident but that he had lost faith in city authorities.

“It’s good that they are just ordinary people, who will understand what we are going through, but I no longer trust the criminal justice system,” he said. “I hope and pray that I am wrong, because anyone who just looks at the facts will come to one conclusion: that this was a homicide.”

The shooting is also being studied by the Justice Department’s Community Relations Service.