Californian suspected of killing 5 charged in earlier murder
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California man arrested on suspicion of murdering five people found dead in a house over the weekend, including one of his children, was charged separately on Thursday in the killing last year of a toddler, prosecutors said.
Martin Martinez, 30, pleaded not guilty to murder and to assault on a child resulting in death in connection with the Oct. 2014 killing of two-year-old Christopher Ripley, the Stanislaus County District Attorney's office said. Both charges carry a possible life sentence if he is convicted, it said.
He was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of murder after two adult women and three girls aged six-months to six-years were found dead on Saturday inside a home in the city of Modesto, some 90 miles (145 km) east of San Francisco.
Police said the suspect had a prior relationship with one of the victims, and was the father of one of the dead girls.
District attorney spokesman John Goold declined to comment on the weekend killings, but confirmed Martinez was the person charged on Thursday in Ripley's death.
Martinez's attorney, Stephen Foley, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Martinez is set to be back in court next Wednesday and had his bail set at $5 million, Goold said.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Sandra Maler)
