November 14, 2022
By: Dwayne Page
The man who allegedly beat his girlfriend to death with a hammer in September has been indicted by the DeKalb County Grand Jury for first degree murder.
35-year-old Simon Rodriguez Martinez will be arraigned in DeKalb County Criminal Court on December 6.
Martinez was indicted by the new term of the Grand Jury on Monday, November 14 charging him with first degree murder in the death of 39-year-old Yuri Guerra. The incident occurred at the couple’s trailer home at 620 South Mountain Street on September 21.
Following a 25-minute preliminary hearing in DeKalb County General Sessions Court on October 11, Judge Brandon Cox found probable cause to bind the case to the DeKalb County Grand Jury. Bond for Martinez was later set by Criminal Court Judge Wesley Bray at $2 million.
District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway, who was present for the preliminary hearing in October, said afterward that prosecutors had not yet decided on the punishment to be sought against Martinez in the case.
The only witness to testify during the October preliminary 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 Allison West about what the investigation revealed.
Martinez, who apparently 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 claims to have pushed Guerra down during the struggle and that she grabbed the hammer and struck him with it. Martinez claims he then took the hammer away from Guerra and struck her once. Davenport said Martinez’s version of the story is not supported by the evidence in that the condition of Guerra’s body shows 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.