August 26, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
The man who allegedly beat his girlfriend to death with a hammer almost two years ago was sentenced today (Monday) in DeKalb County Criminal Court.
36-year-old Simon Rodriguez Martinez, charged with first degree murder in the death of 39-year-old Yuri Guerra, entered a plea to the lesser offense of second-degree murder and received a 40-year sentence to serve at 100%. He was given jai credit of 704 days for time served from September 21, 2022 to August 26, 2024. Martinez was represented by Assistant Public Defender Allison West.
The murder of Guerra occurred at the couple’s trailer home at 620 South Mountain Street on September 21, 2022.
In October, 2022, a preliminary hearing was held in DeKalb County General Sessions Court.
The only witness to testify during that hearing was TBI special agent Brandon Davenport, who was summoned to the scene the morning of the killing. He was questioned by Assistant District Attorney General Greg Strong and Assistant Public Defender West about what the investigation revealed.
Martinez, who doesn’t speak English, sat quietly in the courtroom near the assistant public defender who represented him and an interpreter who was translating for him during Davenport’s testimony.
Davenport said he questioned Martinez after the killing, and he admitted getting into a domestic dispute with Guerra over allegations of infidelity. According to Davenport, Martinez claimed to have pushed Guerra down during the struggle and that she grabbed the hammer and struck him with it. Martinez claimed he then took the hammer away from Guerra and struck her once. Davenport said Martinez’s version of the story was not supported by the evidence in that the condition of Guerra’s body showed multiple blows to her head. After the killing, Martinez allegedly admitted to taking a shower and throwing away his bloody clothes. Three children were present in the home at the time of the killing and the oldest, a 14-year-old witnessed the attack and gave a statement to investigators. A blood-stained claw style hammer, believed to have been the murder weapon, was also recovered.