Supreme Court of The United States,

Nueces County within the state of Texas has made a grave mistake, Fred Martinez is currently serving 12 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Fred Martinez is a gay man in prison for two counts of indecency with a child, despite DNA lab tested results conducted by the Department Of Public Safety that prove his Actual Innocence.

In July of 2014, Fred Martinez was on vacation with his family and partner on a crowded beach in Port Aransas, when he was accused of touching a child inappropriately. Due to the child’s gender, the mother made the false assumption Fred Martinez must have been responsible for the crime given his sexual orientation, and called the police to initiate the investigation. The police conducted an illegal lineup of only Fred Martinez and his male partner on the beach. The child was unable to identify his abuser from the lineup. DNA was collected from the child and a statement was taken from the mother as sole “evidence” in the case for his conviction. The DNA clearly states the absence of Fred Martinez’s DNA on the victim. More importantly the report revealed DNA samples collected during investigation can be traced to someone other than Fred as he has been excluded from being a possible contributor.

 In January of 2016, at the time of sentencing, the DNA evidence was not available, despite being told by his counsel the results were inconclusive. Had the DNA been available Fred would be a free man today. Instead, he was convinced by his attorney to take a guilty plea in exchange for probation in order to avoid going to a jury trial. His Attorney convinced Fred Martinez that his sexuality and race would earn him a harsher sentence. Just two months after sentencing, Fred’s probation was revoked for having access to the internet through two undeletable apps on his phone, and he was forced to serve his sentence of 12 years in prison. 

We are asking that Fred Martinez be released from prison and exonerated of this crime. The perpetrator of this crime is still at large and the State of Texas has in turn victimized a second family by failing to free an innocent man. We firmly believe something happened to this child  however, that person was not Fred Martinez. Both Fred Martinez and this child deserve justice.