Audacity of Molesters
Teach Children as their Probation
By Daniel Muniz

Main Entry: au•dac•i•ty
Pronunciation: o-'da-s&-tE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
Etymology: Middle English audacite, from Latin audac-, audax
1. the quality or state of being audacious : as
a : intrepid boldness
b : bold or arrogant disregard of normal restraints

Source: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

It is amazing the incredible lengths that convicted criminals will go to in a lurid attempt to escape a prison sentence. Richard Martinez, convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year old boy, had the nerve to make one of the most appalling and brazen requests for probation. Instead of spending hard time in prison, Martinez through his lawyer Johnny Cisneros, asked a judge if he could teach children about sex.

That’s right. Instead of going to prison, Martinez sought the opportunity to teach children in the classroom the dangers of inappropriate touching and physical contact.

Talk about audacity.

And talk about a sick mind.

Even though Martinez denies being guilty of the crime, he still feels that he must possess some kind of expertise in talking to students about molestation and sexual assault. And that he could do so for the benefit of the community, if and only if, he could do so as part of a probation term.

Richard Martinez was a long time sports reporter for the San Antonio Express-News from 1987 to 1997 and frequently wrote boxing articles, which is how he managed to find his victim. Martinez also wrote for La Prensa which is a Spanish-language newspaper.

Using his past background as a former sports writer for the local newspaper, he lured the nephew of a boxer into a basement of a building in downtown San Antonio Texas on the pretenses of writing an article about the boy’s uncle. His previous work experience and credentials was more than enough to pull off this ruse. Once Martinez got his ploy to work, he sexually assault the youth.

Afterwards, the boy informed his parents of what happened and they immediately called the police. Martinez was promptly arrested for that crime.

After his arrest, Martinez then opted to undergo counseling on his own accord. And perhaps sensing that he could use his voluntary therapy as leverage he first angled for deferred adjudication, one of the most lenient forms of probation, even though he pleaded no contest for this heinous sex crime with a minor.

Possibly feeling emboldened by such a daring, if not ill-conceived, request, his lawyer explained that Martinez wanted to use that probation time as a means of teaching children the right and wrong ways of touching.

The judge didn’t buy it and sentenced him to ten years in prison along with a $1,200 fine.

Overall, I am glad that this judge didn’t see through the flimsy con of Richard Martinez.

But it goes to show that plenty of criminals are willing to pull just about any kind of stunt in the hopes of finding a sympathetic judge that will agree with their cause. And even though it sounds too crazy that a court would actually believe that this sex offender could be capable to teaching students about sex crimes, strange and twisted things have happened before on numerous occasions before for some rather outlandish reasons.

For instance, the lawyer for an attractive blonde teacher tried to convince the court that his client was too pretty to go to jail for having sex with one of her students thus probation would be the only appropriate alternative. Another judge felt that a sex offender was just too short to go to prison.

Fortunately Judge Maria Teresa (Tessa) Herr of the 186th Criminal District Court didn’t see it that way thus Richard Martinez is going to get locked up.

Although the sentence of ten years may seem like a long time, the earliest that Martinez could possibly be set free on parole could be in five years. Unfortunately, there are plenty of tricks that prisoners could use to portray themselves as model inmates in hopes of gaining an early release.

Too bad that his real prison sentence could not be longer because these kinds of offenders ruin lives and are a danger to the community. However, the most important thing is that no one was fooled by Martinez’s trickery. He is in jail where he should be and will have to register as a sex offender when he is finally set free.

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