WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — A crusade that started almost three decades ago to bring the suspected killer of a local restaurant owner to justice finally came to an end in a Miami courtroom late last month, the victim's family said.
Justo Santos, who was charged but never convicted of the murder of Jose Martinez on an Upper Manhattan street in 1986, was convicted of immigration fraud late last month in federal court in Miami, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 5, paving the way for his extradition, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Martinez's daughter, Joselyn Martinez, said that while Santos was charged but never convicted of her father's murder, she still feels “satisfied with carrying out justice for my father.”
Martinez has been doggedly pursuing justice in her father’s case, inspired by the family of murdered Police Officer Michael Buczek, who hunted down the men accused of the officer’s shooting and helped law enforcement bring them to justice.
Santos, who was 16 years old at the time of the restaurateur's murder, fled to the Dominican Republic after the incident, according to Martinez.
He later returned to the U.S. and was put on trial for Martinez's murder in 2013, almost 27 years after the crime.
Unfortunately, Santos was never brought to trial, Martinez said, because the NYPD had closed the case in 1988, when Santos was arrested — with the lesser charge of "voluntary manslaughter" for the same incident — in the Dominican Republic.
He was released less than a year later in 1989, and then returned to U.S. shortly after. He was living in Miami, Florida when authorities caught up to him in 2013 for the murder of Martinez.
Santos moved to dismiss the case then — which the judge granted — arguing that the 27-year delay of bringing the case back, deprived him of his right to due process and speedy trial.
Santos' lawyer did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
