Martinez, Francisco Rubio

Francisco Eugenio "Kiko" Martínez received his law degree from the University of Minnesota School of Law. Returning to his native Colorado he passed the state's bar examination. He took an interest and supported the activities of the Crusade for Justice, and defended numerous individuals charged with crimes in Colorado and New Mexico. Martínez became a target of law enforcement and F.B.I. surveillance and in 1973 was indicted in Colorado accused of mailing three package bombs in Denver. A "shoot to kill" warrant was issued by police concurrent with intense media scrutiny in Colorado. Fearing for his life, Kiko went into hiding in Mexico for seven years. He attempted to return to the U.S. in 1980 and was taken into custody. During the 1980s, Martínez stood trial for numerous state and federal charges brought against him, many of the charges were dropped for insufficient evidence. After he was exonerated, Martínez was reinstated to the bar. He continues to live and practice law in Alamosa, Colorado, where he remains involved in community and social activism.

From the description of Papers, 1966-1995. (University of New Mexico-Main Campus). WorldCat record id: 53836039

Francisco "Kiko" Martínez, from the Francisco E. Mart?nez Defense Committee Newsletter. (Box 32, Folder 1).

Francisco Eugenio "Kiko" Martínez was born November 26, 1946 in Alamosa, Colorado. He graduated from Alamosa High School in 1964, and attended Adams State College in Alamosa where he studied anthropology, sociology, and business administration, and graduated in 1968. Early in his career, Kiko served as an intern at Salud y Justicia (Health and Justice), an agency that provided legal, health, and social work assistance for agricultural workers. In 1971 he enrolled at the University of Minnesota School of Law where he emerged as a strong advocate for prison inmates and Native American legal rights. After finishing law school, Kiko returned to Colorado where he took the state's bar examination. While taking the exam, Martínez refused to answer one question that he viewed as offensive and demeaning toward Native Americans in order to protest the inclusion of the question. He passed the exam despite not answering the question.

During his early years as an attorney, Kiko often represented and counseled Chicano inmates at the Colorado State Penitentiary at Ca?on City, and members of the United Mexican American Students Chicano organization at the University of Colorado. Martínez also took an interest and supported the activities of the Crusade for Justice, a Chicano social justice organization founded by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonz?lez in Denver, Colorado. Kiko provided legal counsel to various members of the organization, and defended numerous individuals charged with crimes in Colorado and New Mexico. While active in La Raza Legal Association and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in 1972, Martínez served as legal adviser to the family of Ricardo Falc?n. A Chicano community organizer, Falc?n was murdered while traveling in Southern New Mexico. Martínez also served as counsel for individuals at the Tonantzin School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which underwent police surveillance, infiltration, and criminal prosecution of its leadership.

Due to his Chicano and leftist political views often expressed through his legal and community work throughout the early 1970s, Martínez became a target of law enforcement and F.B.I. surveillance. In 1973 Martínez was indicted in Colorado accused of mailing three package bombs in Denver to Carol Hogue, an African-American policewoman, Robert Crider, a local school board member, and the Two Wheeler Motorcycle Shop, located near La Raza/Columbus Park. The park had been the site of several community-police confrontations regarding its use and name. None of the bombs that Martínez allegedly mailed exploded since law enforcement officials arrived just before they went off. A "shoot to kill" warrant was issued by police concurrent with intense media scrutiny in Colorado. His law license was subsequently suspended. The Denver Post and the federal government offered a reward of up to $3,000 for information leading to Martínez's arrest. Fearing for his life, Kiko left the country and went into hiding in Mexico for seven years. He attempted to return to the U.S. in 1980 and was taken into custody at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Nogales, Arizona, while using the alias of Jos? Reynoso D?az.

During the 1980s, Martínez stood trial for numerous state and federal charges brought against him pertaining to the 1973 alleged bombing incidents in Colorado and the 1980 attempted Arizona border crossing. Many of the charges were dropped for insufficient evidence and the fact that police "lost" critical evidence. In other cases, trial juries acquitted him of charges. Martínez' defense fought hard for and received separate trials for each of the mail bomb charges. The first trial, Hogue, ended in a mistrial in 1981 when it was discovered that the federal trial judge, Fred Winner, secretly met with prosecutors, police officials, and government witnesses. The secret meeting included formulation of a plan to force a mistrial but only after the defense had revealed its trial strategy thereby giving the prosecution an advantage in a subsequent retrial. Winner had also conspired with the F.B.I. to conceal video cameras in the courtroom. The second trial, Two Wheeler in 1982, resulted in an acquittal, and the third trial, Crider in 1982-83, resulted in a dismissal after it was disclosed that the police had destroyed physical evidence. In 1985-86, Martínez was brought to trial by the Immigration and Naturalization Service for his 1980 border crossing incident and was convicted of providing false information to a federal official. That conviction was later overturned on appeal.

The Francisco E. Martínez Defense Committee (FEMDC), a community-based group in Alamosa, Colorado, was formed to assist the legal struggle. This group publicly advocated Martínez's innocence of charges brought against him, and asserted that the government's intelligence agencies had conspired to frame and imprison him. He was eventually exonerated of all criminal charges. Although the government campaign against Martínez ultimately failed, the process did achieve one of the intended purposes of the Counter Intelligence Program: to disrupt, destroy and neutralize dissent.

After he was exonerated, Martínez was reinstated to the bar. He continues to live and practice law in Alamosa, Colorado, where he remains involved in community and social activism.

From the guide to the Francisco E. Martínez Papers, 1966-1995, (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)