Homicide trial in Missouri for Tamaqua man continued
Jul. 12—The trial for a Tamaqua man charged with murder in Missouri has been continued until January.
Josue Martinez's trial had been scheduled to begin Monday in Pulaski County, Missouri.
His public defender, Matthew Crowell, was granted a continuance because "additional information was uncovered through depositions," he said Monday.
The trial is now scheduled to begin Jan. 9, with a pretrial conference set for Dec. 9 in the Phelps County Courthouse in Rolla, Missouri.
Martinez remains in the Phelps County Jail. He is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and one count each of robbery and tampering with a motor vehicle.
The defendant was charged in the April 21, 2021, homicide of Donald Wethy, of St. James, Missouri.
Police allege Martinez stabbed Wethy and left his body in the parking lot of a motel in St. James.
Kimberly Riston, of Banning, California, was also charged in the killing.
Her trial was held Jan. 25 in Texas County, Missouri, after a judge approved a change of venue.
A jury found her guilty of second-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and one count each of robbery and tampering with a motor vehicle.
She is serving a 23-year sentence at the Women's Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Missouri. An appeal is pending.
Martinez and Riston had been taken into custody while walking along a highway a short time after police responded to the call about Wethy's body being found.
Contact the writer: amarchiano@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6023
