Prosecutor: Man fatally shot girlfriend’s lover in predawn ambush in Cathedral City

INDIO (CNS) - A 32-year-old man accused of gunning down his one-time girlfriend's lover as he left her Coachella Valley home was inflamed with rage and intended to shoot to kill, prosecutors said today, while the defense argued that the defendant was blinded by passion and also believed the victim was going to pull a gun on him.   

"There's no excuse for this,'' Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Kevin Roeder told jurors in his closing statement in the trial of Jose Ernesto Martinez of Desert Hot Springs.

Testimony in Martinez's roughly four-day trial concluded Tuesday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, at which time the prosecution and defense rested. Superior Court Judge James Hawkins directed the two sides to deliver closing arguments Wednesday morning.

Martinez is charged with first-degree murder and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations for the slaying of 27-year-old Isaac Valles of Rancho Mirage.

The prosecution recounted how Martinez was incensed that his girlfriend, identified only as Dayanira, was seeing another man and staked out her residence in the 31800 block of Neuma Drive, near Ramon Road in Cathedral City, between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. on June 26, 2021, to see who was coming and going.  

There had been a text exchange between the woman and defendant, in which he apparently admitted being close by, prompting her to message him, "(Expletive) leave. (Expletive) you go home,'' Roeder said.

Martinez remained in his car, waiting, and shortly before 3 a.m., hespotted Valles exiting the house, according to the prosecution.   

Roeder said the defendant grabbed a self-assembled semiautomatic ``ghost gun'' from under the driver's seat of his car, jumped out and opened fire on the victim, who was struck twice in the head, as well as once in the neck and chest.

Valles collapsed in the roadway, dying moments later.

Dayanira witnessed the attack and screamed at Martinez, ``You're not leaving; you just killed him!'' according to the prosecution.   

The defendant replied, ``I'm sorry. Don't call the police,'' Roeder recalled.

However, witnesses called 911, and the defendant fled.   

``He was emotionally compromised,'' Deputy Public Defender Fernanda Oviedo told the jury in her closing. She characterized him as full of anger and pain over Dayanira's behavior, alleging the woman was not only spending time with the victim, but also cheating with another man, whose identity wasn't disclosed.   

Martinez did not want to give her up, the attorney said.   

She said the combination of his emotional strain, and the fact that he could not see well on the night of the shooting, led to a fatal outcome.   

``It was dark. He didn't have his glasses on and believed Valles had a gun,'' Oviedo said, referring to statements by the defendant that he had seen the victim reaching into his waistband. ``It was a rapid series of events.''

Roeder countered that Valles was simply trying to pull up his shorts. The victim wasn't armed.  

Oviedo nonetheless asserted that the most her client should be convicted of is voluntary manslaughter in the heat of passion.   

Cathedral City Police Department officers took the defendant into custody without incident at his home two hours after the shooting, based on Dayanira's and other witnesses' statements, as well as evidence collected at the scene.

He's being held on $1 million bail at the Benoit Detention Center in Indio. He has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.