EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — A man could spend the rest of his life in prison after he was sentenced Tuesday for the murder of a 23-year-old man in 2024, whom he ran over with a car after following a fight in East El Paso.
According to court documents, Rene Martinez, who was 32 at the time of his arrest, was sentenced to 70 years for murder and 20 years for the collision involving death, after he was convicted for running over Juan Flores Jr., 23, in a parking lot at 1441 N. Zaragoza Rd. at around 2:15 a.m. on Sept. 30, 2024.
Martinez will serve both sentences at the same time.
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According to police documents, Martinez was with two friends and Flores Jr. was with four.
The two groups nearly got into a fight, but Martinez and his friends reportedly walked away.
At some point, court documents describe, someone in Flores Jr.’s group threw a rock at Martinez’s car.
Martinez then drove back to where Flores Jr. and his friends were standing, and the two groups again nearly fought before Martinez drove away.
Flores Jr. and his friends also began walking away, and that’s when police documents say Martinez turned his car around, sped up and ran into Flores Jr.
Police documents state that Flores Jr. “landed on the hood” of the car, while witnesses described him “[holding] on to the hood of the vehicle.”
Martinez reportedly swerved and Flores Jr. lost his grip on the hood, fell to the ground and hit the back of his head on the pavement.
Flores Jr. was subsequently taken to Del Sol Medical Center, where a doctor said he suffered head trauma and damaged his spinal cord, calling the injuries “non-recoverable.”
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