The government used a paid informant, my religion, and a poisoned courtroom to convict me of a “crime” its own informant pushed me into. Now that same federal government is still violating my rights inside the Bureau of Prisons.

My name is Domingo Martinez, Jr. I am asking the President of the United States to grant my clemency application, Case No. C325095, and commute my 144-month sentence.

My case was not clean. It was built around a confidential informant who came to my autobody shop again and again before the charged transaction. I have said that this informant was paid heavily. He had serious credibility problems. He pressured, manipulated, and inserted himself into my life until I was trapped.

I testified that the informant showed me a gun and acted like he was connected to a cartel. I was afraid for the safety of my wife and children. My case was not about justice, it was coercion.

A person should not lose more than a decade of his life because a paid informant pushed, pressured, and frightened him into a transaction the government then used to call him a criminal.

The government also used Santa Muerte against me. Santa Muerte is part of my religious and cultural life, but the government turned that into evidence of criminal predisposition. It used my faith to make me look like a drug trafficker.

Even the government’s own witness admitted that Santa Muerte can mean protection, healing, health, prosperity, and safe passage. But the jury still heard my religion tied to crime. No one should be convicted because the government made his faith look dangerous. No one should serve 144 months because prosecutors used religious fear to make a jury distrust him.

Then, while I was testifying, a pro-police robocall played over the courtroom speakers. The message warned about “criminals” trying to defund police and asked people to support the police. That happened while my credibility was on trial, while the jury had to decide whether to believe me or the government’s police witnesses and informant.

That moment poisoned the courtroom. A defendant should never have to testify while jurors hear a message telling them to side with police against “criminals.”

My lawyer did not protect me the way he is required to. Key objections were not made. The Santa Muerte evidence was not properly challenged. A defense expert was not used to explain my faith. The pro-police robocall wasn't adequately responded to. Because of those failures, important issues were pushed into harder procedural standards instead of full review.

That is why clemency matters. Clemency exists when the courts are boxed in by technical rules and prosecutors have foresaken their oath to act as a minister of justice. It exists when a sentence continues even after the public can see the prosecution was tainted. It exists so the President has the power to do what the system refused to do.

But the injustice did not stop after conviction. The federal government still controls my life inside the Bureau of Prisons, and the abuse has continued there.

While incarcerated, I confronted derogatory comments about Hispanic inmates. After that, I was targeted. I have stated under penalty of perjury that BOP staff member Katrina Evans retaliated against me, stole my lawfully purchased MP3 player and tablet while creating a false discipline record against me.

False prison discipline is not minor. It can cost good conduct time, delay release, and even cut off phone calls and visits. It can separate a prisoner from family. It can take away commissary and basic contact with the outside world. It can turn a sentence into something harsher than the judge imposed.

The federal government prosecuted me, imprisoned me, and now allows federal employees to violate my rights through retaliation, false discipline, property theft, discrimination, and obstruction.

A prison sentence is not permission for staff to lie, steal, falsify records, target Hispanic inmates, or keep a person locked up longer through bogus discipline.

My case is not isolated. Other reports describe prisoners experiencing segregation time (i.e. being sent to the "hole"), losing good conduct time, phone privileges, commissary, and tablet access after Evans-related "discipline". Those reports describe unsigned paperwork, concealed staff involvement, speculative contraband claims, common-area contraband being charged to prisoners, and severe sanctions based on weak or tainted evidence.

That pattern matters because it shows that my federal punishment did not end with a conviction. It continued behind prison walls.

We are not asking the President to ignore the record. We are asking the President to look at the whole record.

Look at the paid informant. Look at the repeated contacts. Look at the gun and cartel threats I testified about. Look at how my religion was used against me. Look at the pro-police robocall that played while I testified. Look at the lawyer failures that kept key issues from full review before the court of appeals. Look at the abuse that continued after I entered federal custody.

Then grant clemency.

The President of the United States has the power to correct this. The President should grant my pending clemency application, Case No. C325095, and commute my sentence.

The Office of the Pardon Attorney should give full weight to the informant-driven prosecution, the use of Santa Muerte evidence, the courtroom robocall, the ineffective assistance claims, and the continuing BOP abuse.

DOJ and BOP oversight officials should investigate the prison misconduct, preserve the evidence, correct false discipline, restore good conduct time where appropriate, and stop federal employees from using prison discipline as retaliation.

Your signature helps demand mercy. Your signature helps demand accountability. Your signature tells the President that this case deserves executive action now.

Please sign and share today to ask the President to grant clemency to Domingo Martinez, Jr., Clemency Case No. C325095.