JOVANI MARTINEZ - 2 yo - (2010) Racine WI

A 40-year-old Racine man is accused of killing a 2-year-old boy, punching him
because he was spilling his milk.
Manuel Garcia made an appearance in Racine County Court on Monday.
Investigators said Garcia lost his temper with his girlfriend's son,
punching him numerous times in the abdomen on Thursday, killing him.
Family members said Jovani Martinez died early Friday at a Racine
hospital, just hours after Garcia and his mother, Lawanda Martinez, 25, brought
him in.
Police later interviewed Garcia at his Racine home, and according to the
criminal complaint, he admitted punching the boy at least three times because
the child was quote "frustrating him" and spilling his milk.
Garcia's family said it's hard to believe.
"All I know is my uncle wouldn't hurt the little boy," Garcia's niece,
Karla Veloz, said.
Martinez is charged with child neglect resulting in death. Prosecutors
said she largely ignored the boy's injuries and symptoms until it was too late.
"He was dizzy, he wasn't responding to nothing. I kept telling her to
take him to the hospital," Martinez's mother, Wanda Williams, said.
Williams with Martinez and the child before he died. She said that
although she doesn't blame her for his death, she agrees Martinez should've
taken him to the hospital right away.
She said she's upset and disappointed.
"Yes I am, because she should've listened to me and took him to the
hospital. … She should've took him to the hospital like I asked her to do. But,
she did not do, she did not do it," Williams said.
The boy's father was not in court on Monday. Earlier, he told the Racine
Journal Times he had seen signs of abuse with the child, but didn't know how to
report it.
The Department of Children and Families in Madison said they can't
comment on any prior reports of abuse.
Martinez' three other children were taken into protective custody by the
DCF. Her family said they're trying to obtain custody of them.

Mom gets four years prison in death of her son
JANINE ANDERSON janine.anderson@journaltimes.com | Posted: Friday, February 4, 2011 7:00 pm



RACINE - How do you teach empathy?

That was the question District Attorney Mike Nieskes had going into Friday's sentencing hearing for Lawanda Martinez, 25. Martinez faced up to 15 years in prison for not getting medical care for her critically injured son.

By the time she brought 2-year-old Jovani to the hospital on March 12, he wasn't breathing, his belly was distended, and he had been losing consciousness and shaking since the afternoon. He had four broken ribs and a perforated intestine. He died of his injuries.

Martinez didn't follow her mother's advice to take the boy to the hospital. Now, she wishes she had.

"A 2-year-old can't walk into a police department, fire station or to a neighbor and say ‘I need medical attention,'" Nieskes said. "We depend on the parents to do it."

Martinez didn't do that.

Martinez's boyfriend at the time, Manuel Garcia, 40, is charged with reckless homicide, for allegedly beating the boy for repeatedly spilling milk out of his bottle.

No one knew about the alleged physical abuse that day, and Public Defender Paul Rifelj said that had Martinez been aware of the injuries, she wouldn't have waited to get treatment for her son.

"This is not a cold or heartless woman," he said. "This is someone who was trying to raise a family when Mr. Garcia inflicted this harm upon her son."

This case comes down to punishment, he said. What punishment does Martinez deserve for what appears to be an isolated incident in her life?

He said she was worried about her son, trying to get him to eat and asking him what was going on, but at midnight, they raced him to the hospital.

But Nieskes said regardless of the reason for Jovani's listlessness, Martinez should have realized something was horribly wrong with her child.

"The one thing she truly cries out for is to have empathy, to understand what her children are going through and to put those people's needs ahead of her own," Nieskes said. "Your Honor, I don't know of a program that can put that into the heart of a mother when it doesn't exist."

Martinez told the presentence investigator that she hoped the judge gave her probation, though everyone would be recommending prison for her.

"My family has suffered enough for what has happened to my child," she said.

Martinez was difficult to understand as she addressed the court, straining to speak through a tight throat as she tried to keep from sobbing.

"I want to hold (my children) and play with them," she said. "I just want to be with my kids."

People have children by choice, said Racine County Circuit Court Judge Wayne Marik said. They choose to deliberately have a child, or to deliberately engage in behavior that makes it possible for a child to appear.

"It's a huge burden, a huge responsibility to be a parent, to be responsible for a small, innocent life that in no way can care for itself," he said. "When parents are going to choose to have children, they have to know they are going to be held to a very high standard of meeting the needs of that child."
This is what the community expects of parents, he said, and the reason he was sending Martinez to prison. He gave her the maximum sentence recommended by the Department of Corrections: four years in prison and four on extended supervision.

http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_04a51f5a-30b6-11e0-b1f4-001cc4c002e0.html

Future Court Activity
Date Time Location Description Type 2 Court Official
08-22-2011 01:30 pm BR 6 - Law Enforcement Center - Lower Level Motion hearing Court Marik, Wayne J

http://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetails.do;jsessionid=1C1521D8F17757FA0139C0A50B228406.render6?caseNo=2010CF000365&countyNo=51&cacheId=A96B7788211A37EA08228088B960278C&recordCount=176&offset=21&mode=details&submit=View+Case+Details

Future Court Activity
Date
Time
Location
Description
Type 2
Court Official
10-06-2011
01:30 pm
BR 6 - Law Enforcement Center - Lower Level
Motion hearing
Court
Marik, Wayne J

http://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetails.do;jsessionid=1C1521D8F17757FA0139C0A50B228406.render6?caseNo=2010CF000365&countyNo=51&cacheId=A96B7788211A37EA08228088B960278C&recordCount=176&offset=21&mode=details&submit=View+Case+Details

12-19-2011
01:30 pm
BR 6 - Law Enforcement Center - Lower Level
Motion hearing
Court
Marik, Wayne J

http://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetails.do;jsessionid=1C1521D8F17757FA0139C0A50B228406.render6?caseNo=2010CF000365&countyNo=51&cacheId=A96B7788211A37EA08228088B960278C&recordCount=176&offset=21&mode=details&submit=View+Case+Details