California man pleads no contest in selling of daughter for $16,000 (two stories)
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/0...d_for_marriage
California man pleads no contest in selling of daughter for $16,000
53 minutes ago
By The Associated Press
SALINAS, Calif. - A California man accused of selling his 14-year-old daughter into marriage for $16,000, beer and meat has pleaded no contest to felony child endangerment.
Marcelino de Jesus Martinez had pleaded not guilty in February to procuring a child for lewd acts, aiding and abetting statutory rape and child endangerment. If convicted of those charges he faced 10 years in prison.
Monday's plea on the endangerment charge means the 36-year-old man will be sentenced May 7 to up to a year in jail followed by deportation.
Prosecutors say Martinez and the family of Margarito de Jesus Galindo negotiated a marriage and dowry contract. Galindo and the girl allegedly lived together for a week.
Martinez went to police to get his daughter back because payment wasn't made.
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http://www.thecalifornian.com/articl...WS01/904070301
Father in Greenfield teen bride case faces deportation
Father pleads no contest in arranging the marriage of his 14-year-old daughter
BY LESLIE GRIFFY • [email protected] • April 7, 2009
http://cmsimg.thecalifornian.com/app...W=180&Border=0
Lawyer on right, defendant on left
A man accused of arranging for his 14-year-old daughter to marry an adult neighbor faces deportation to Mexico after pleading no contest to felony child-endangerment charges Monday.
Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, who initially pleaded not guilty, had faced 10 years imprisonment and deportation, said Deputy District Attorney Cristina Johnson. A judge will sentence 38-year-old Martinez to three to five years of felony probation in May, Johnson said.
But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials likely will begin deportation proceedings against Martinez before he can serve any of the probation, said Miguel Hernandez, the man's defense attorney.
Prosecutors alleged that Martinez negotiated a marriage between his daughter and an 18-year-old neighbor in Greenfield's tightly-knit Mexican Triqui indigenous community last year. Greenfield police initially said Martinez was involved in human trafficking, reporting that the wedding plans included $16,000 in payments to be made to
Martinez and cases of beer, soda and wine for the reception. Police later backed away from the human-trafficking allegation when they realized that marriages between teenage girls and adult men are common in Triqui culture. Those unions are often sealed by gifts.
The case was complicated by language issues during Martinez's hearings. Because he speaks Triqui, two translators were required for the case; one to translate English into Spanish and another to translate Spanish into Triqui.
"This whole case is a convergence of multiple layers of misunderstandings," said Honorary Mexican Consul Blanca Zarazua. While the court has access to interpreters and people who can help explain the U.S. legal system, police in the field do not have access to the same support in many cases, she said. On Monday, the day that jury selection was slated to start in his trial, Martinez spent more than two hours with translators and attorneys reviewing the implications of changing his plea.
Monterey County Superior Court Judge Larry Hayes repeatedly asked if Martinez understood the court proceedings.
"I need you to understand this: You can win this trial and 12 people can agree with you that you are innocent," Hayes told Martinez. "On the other hand, you can lose that trial."
Martinez's defense team had argued during the preliminary hearing that the neighbor, Margarita de Jesus Galindo, abducted the girl. As part of the plea Monday, Hernandez said Martinez admitted to not doing enough to keep his daughter from being taken to the neighbor's apartment, where she lived for two weeks as Galindo's bride.
After Martinez entered his plea, Johnson requested that the other charges against Martinez, procuring a child for lewd and lascivious acts, aiding and abetting statutory rape, be dropped. It is unclear what will happen to the rest of Martinez's family and his 14-year-old daughter. Martinez will likely be deported because he is not a citizen and has been convicted of a felony, making him no longer welcome in the country. ICE officials now have the would-be groom, Galindo, in custody. Galindo has pleaded no contest in his case.
