{"id":103845,"date":"2021-09-09T16:48:55","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T23:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=103845"},"modified":"2021-09-09T16:49:51","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T23:49:51","slug":"man-pleads-not-guilty-in-covid-19-patients-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2021\/09\/09\/man-pleads-not-guilty-in-covid-19-patients-killing\/","title":{"rendered":"Man pleads not guilty in COVID-19 patient&#8217;s killing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/AV-Hospital-updated.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-96873\" src=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/AV-Hospital-updated.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"808\" height=\"461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/AV-Hospital-updated.jpg 808w, https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/AV-Hospital-updated-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/AV-Hospital-updated-768x438.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 808px) 100vw, 808px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>LANCASTER &#8211; A man pleaded not guilty Thursday to killing an 82-year-old fellow patient who was praying when he was clubbed in the head with an oxygen tank at Antelope Valle Hospital, where both men were being treated for COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jesse Martinez<\/strong>, 37, of Lancaster, was charged last Dec. 21 with one count each of murder and elder or dependent adult abuse resulting in death, along with a hate crime allegation.<\/p>\n<p>The attack on Lancaster resident <strong>David Hernandez-Garcia<\/strong> occurred Dec. 17, 2020, in the COVID-19 ward at Antelope Valley Hospital. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff&#8217;s Department, the defendant and victim men did not know each other prior to being admitted to the medical center.<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; \" id=\"theav-1853336470\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4504301096758439\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4504301096758439\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"5907184250\" \ndata-ad-layout=\"in-article\"\ndata-ad-format=\"fluid\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;(The victim) was housed in a two-person room inside the hospital with the suspect, who was also there receiving treatment,&#8221; according to a statement released then by the sheriff&#8217;s department. &#8220;The suspect became upset when the victim started to pray. He then struck the victim with an oxygen tank.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Criminal proceedings against Martinez were suspended Jan. 5 after a doubt was declared about his mental competency to stand trial, with the case subsequently being sent back to criminal court.<\/p>\n<p>He has remained behind bars since he was arrested Dec. 17 by Los Angeles County sheriff&#8217;s deputies, jail records show.<\/p>\n<p>Previous related stories:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2021\/01\/05\/criminal-proceedings-suspended-for-man-charged-in-covid-patients-killing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Criminal proceedings suspended for man charged in COVID patient\u2019s killing<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2020\/12\/28\/arraignment-postponed-for-man-who-allegedly-killed-fellow-covid-patient\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Arraignment postponed for man who allegedly killed fellow COVID patient<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2020\/12\/23\/lasd-covid-19-patient-kills-fellow-covid-19-patient-in-av-hospital\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>LASD: COVID-19 patient kills fellow COVID-19 patient in AV Hospital<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LANCASTER &#8211; A man pleaded not guilty Thursday to killing an 82-year-old fellow patient who was praying when he was clubbed in the head with an oxygen tank at Antelope Valle Hospital, where both men were being treated for COVID-19. Jesse Martinez, 37, of Lancaster, was charged last Dec. 21 with one count each of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719,1499,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103845"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}