Judge weighs heroin plea deal

COEUR d’ALENE — Instead of pleading guilty to trafficking heroin, a 23-year-old Hayden woman who was arrested after a motorist watched her shoot up drugs in a grocery store parking lot, will be sentenced for possession with intent to deliver heroin.

If a judge accepts it, the plea arrangement would shave two years off Janell M. Martinez’s prison term.

Martinez was arrested in June after police received a report of a woman in a Volkswagen in the Coeur d’alene Super 1 parking lot shooting drugs into her arm with a needle. The car was stopped near Atlas Road and Martinez was taken into custody. Police allegedly found approximately 6 grams of heroin in separate baggies, scales and several cellphones inside the blue Volkswagen.

At a change of plea hearing in First District Court, prosecutor Stan Mortenson told the court he expected to have Martinez plead guilty to trafficking, but opted instead to amend the charge if the defendant agreed to stay in the Kootenai County jail until her Aug. 21 sentencing.

Mortenson wanted to impose the three-year determinate prison sentence that is set in state law. Trafficking less than 7 grams of heroin carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of three years behind bars.

Through her attorney, County Public Defender Anne Taylor, Martinez agreed to a determinate sentence of one year behind bars. The agreement would allow attorneys to argue the indeterminate portion of the sentence.

How long Martinez spends in prison will ultimately be determined by Judge Rich Christensen, who may not accept the plea bargain. If the judge refuses to accept the agreement, Martinez’s guilty plea will be void and attorneys will renegotiate a suitable sentence.

Christensen revoked bond at the hearing, making Martinez stay in jail until sentencing.

When she was arrested around 7:30 p.m. June 14, at Industrial Loop and Engineer Street on the west end of Kathleen Avenue, Martinez told police she had been clean for at least three years, but officers found fresh injection marks and dried blood on her arm.

She admitted to police to having approximately 6 grams of black-tar heroin, in separate baggies, which was seized by officers. She told them she had recently purchased the drugs in Spokane. Police also seized a cellphone and what appeared to be a ledger detailing drug deals, according to a report.