COMPTON : 30-Year Term for Murder While Under House Arrest

A Harbor City man who killed his estranged wife after removing an electronic monitoring anklet while under house arrest was sentenced Tuesday to 30 years to life in prison.

Steve Moon Martinez, 27, showed no emotion as Compton Superior Court Judge John Cheroske handed down a sentence one year shy of the maximum.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Georgia Sullivan predicted that Martinez would serve at least 25 years before he is eligible for parole, but the family of victim Nikki Martinez, 26, took little solace in the sentence. “It doesn’t bring her back,” said Carol Tweedt, Nikki Martinez’s mother.

Steve Martinez was convicted May 5 of first-degree murder and lesser charges in the 1991 shooting of his wife, five days after she served him with divorce papers. Martinez was serving a 90-day unrelated house arrest sentence for shooting a firearm in the air.