***MEDIA ADVISORY***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 28, 2014

MIGUEL MARTINEZ PLEADS GUILTY TO MURDER IN THE SHOOTING DEATH OF ANTHONY PEREZ

Media Contact: Curtis T. Hill, Jr. (574) 296-1888

On the afternoon of August 28, 2014, Miguel Martinez-Villasenor, age 19, pled guilty in the Elkhart Circuit Court to Murder for the March 30, 2014 shooting death of Anthony Perez in the Deer Creeke Apartments. Martinez-Villasenor told Judge Shewmaker that he and Perez were friends and members of the same gang, but that he shot his friend because Perez had recently posted a photograph disrespecting their gang. After the shooting, Martinez-Villasenor fled to Chicago where he was ultimately arrested in May 2014. Martinez-Villasenor was scheduled to go to trial on September 15.

Under the plea agreement, Martinez-Villasenor will receive a stipulated sentence of 65 years incarcerated to the Indiana Department of Correction, with the final 5 years suspended on non-reporting probation. Because Martinez-Villasenor accepted the maximum sentence for Murder, the State agreed not to file a criminal gang enhancement. Sentencing is scheduled for October 9, 2014 at 8:30 a.m. in the Elkhart Circuit Court.

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“Under Indiana law, all persons arrested for a criminal offense are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”