A man charged with quadruple homicide for allegedly setting a Brooklyn fire in 2006 that killed two women and two children had his bail reduced to just $1 on Wednesday as the case against him weakened and his defense lawyer accused prosecutors of withholding evidence.
Samuel Martinez, 40, was charged in 2012 in the blaze and had been remanded without bail. But “there was no physical evidence,” Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Guy Mangano said in court Wednesday.
“The case has gotten substantially weaker.”
Martinez was indicted on the word of two witnesses: One who told cops he heard Martinez confess to the arson and another who said Martinez told him about other crimes.
While one of the witnesses has stopped cooperating with prosecutors, the other has a history of “paranoid delusions” that the Martinez defense team was never told about, defense lawyer Amy Rameau said in court.
The witness wrote a letter from prison in the 1990s to a judge who had overseen his case, describing a criminal relationship between him and the judge that didn’t exist, Rameau said.
“He chastised the judge for stealing the proceeds of crimes he [said he] and the judge committed around the city,” Rameau said, adding that the addled witness wrote, “That wasn’t very nice considering everything I did for you, including teaching you to play basketball.”
Rameau bashed prosecutors for not alerting her to the witness’ shaky mental status.
“This evidence should have been turned over a very long time ago by the previous administration,” she said in court. “I find it hard to believe that the [then-DA Charles] Hynes administration didn’t know about this.”
Martinez’s family rejoiced at the news that his bail had been reduced – though he still faces an unrelated assault case in The Bronx.
“My son is innocent of this crime,” said Martinez mom Lillian Ubarry-Nunez, 59.
“I feel very badly for the family and I hope they get justice but my son needs justice too and he got that today.”