Rachel Morin's murder suspect waives a speedy trial and the hearing is postponed until 2025

BALTIMORE — The man charged in the rape and death of a Harford County mother of five appeared in person in court Friday.

Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez is charged with murder, rape and kidnapping in connection with the death of Rachel Morin, who was found dead on the Ma and Pa Trails in Bel Air in August 2023.

Morin's mother, Patty, sat in the front row, dressed all in black, as Martinez-Hernandez was brought into Harford County District Court. She was filled with emotion as she saw the man accused of killing her daughter in person for the first time.

“Seeing him on TV when we had the bail review hearing across the street is so different having him in the room. “His hands are tied, his feet are tied, he’s wearing the striped black and white jumpsuit,” Randolph Rice, the Morin family’s attorney, said. “Being in the same room with the man who allegedly killed your daughter is just a very emotional day.”

The appearance was originally planned as a motion hearing. After the defense filed a motion to postpone the start of the trial until next year, the hearing was postponed. The trial was scheduled to begin later this month but was pushed back to April 2025 to give the defense more time to review evidence, which public defender Marcus Jenkins described as “extensive.”

“You're dealing with ten months' worth of evidence. The state has had this since the day Rachel was found and they have been collecting evidence. The defense takes three months and three days, four days, so they have a lot of catching up to do,” Rice explained.

Judge Yolanda Curtin presided.

The alleged murderer waived his right to a speedy trial and conflict of interest waiver to the public defender's office, which had previously represented Morin's friend Richard Tobin.

After a nationwide search, Martinez-Hernandez was arrested at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June and brought back to Maryland to face the charges. Martinez-Hernandez is from El Salvador and only speaks Spanish. He communicated through an interpreter and explained that he was receiving psychological care in the detention center and that he had completed school up to the seventh grade. He also added that he was not taking any medication that would affect his ability to understand what was happening in court.

Martinez-Hernandez is also accused of another murder in his home country of El Salvador and fled illegally to the United States in 2023, law enforcement said. He was picked up at least three times along the border by Customs and Border Protection. Police say he is also connected to a home invasion and assault on a child in Los Angeles.

DNA evidence collected after police determined Morin's body linked Martinez-Hernandez to his crimes in the United States

Court documents showed that Martinez-Hernandez lived with family members in Maryland from December 2023 to May 2024.

Matthew McMahon, the father of Morin's eldest daughter, was also in court today. He said his daughter is now expecting her first child. He began to cry as he described how Morin was supposed to be here to become a grandparent by his side.

“Rachel just doesn’t deserve this; We shouldn't have to be here. But at the end of the day, it's a good day because this is a day of justice for Rachel,” McMahon said.

Harford County Prosecutor Alison Healey is pushing for it Maximum penalty if Martinez Hernandez is convicted, according to court records.

The maximum sentence is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Attorneys will meet for motion hearings, followed by a preliminary hearing scheduled for March 31. The trial is scheduled to begin on April 1, 2025.