Hearing against man charged in officer's death continued

Jan. 12—A court date to schedule the trial against a man charged in the March 2023 death of a McAlester Police officer was continued again.

Tulsa County Court records show the attorney for Martin Rivas Rodriguez, 39, listed on court records with a Tulsa address, appeared in court with the defense and prosecution passing the district court arraignment to next month.

No reason for the pass was given in court documents.

Tulsa County Judge Sharon Holmes reset the hearing to Feb. 12 at 9 a.m. and said that an interpreter would be needed.

Rodriguez waived his right to a preliminary hearing in October and was initially scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 30 before the hearing was reset to Nov. 7.

The November hearing was reset to Jan. 8 before it was continued to the February date.

Rodriguez is charged with felony counts of first-degree manslaughter and causing a fatality accident without a valid driver's license in the death of McAlester Police Patrolman Joseph Barlow following a March 17 collision in Glenpool.

He is also facing misdemeanor counts of reckless driving and no valid driver's license.

According to the court documents filed by the Tulsa County DA's Office, Rodriguez "drove his car into the center lane of the road and hit the guardrail, causing the vehicle to launch into the air and collide head-on with a police vehicle being operated by McAlester Police Officer Joseph Barlow."

Court documents state after Rodriguez was cuffed, the man refused to give officers his date of birth "for several minutes.

"After Rodriguez was read his Miranda Warning and the implied consent, a blood specimen was taken on the scene by EMSA," according to court documents.

Rodriquez remains in the Tulsa County Jail on an aggregate bond on $250,000 and a hold by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement