Las Cruces Teen Charged With Choking Teammate Changes Plea
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – A Las Cruces teenager charged with choking a team mate unconcious changed his plea from no contest to guilty Friday.
It’s been an emotional year for both this teen and the boy he choked. 15-year-old Aaron Martinez was originally charged with a felony offense of aggravated battery for choking teammate Matthew Garcia, but today Martinez pleaded Guilty to the lesser misdemeanor charge of Battery after striking a deal with prosecution.
Garcia’s mother told ABC-7 in January that her son was never the same after the incident, suffering brain damage after hitting his head. Garcia had to get treatment by neurologists for seizures but it was never certain if those seizures stemmed from that particular incident. Friday, the judge told Martinez, even though it’s a misdemeanor, it’s a serious offense, an action with serious consequences, saying, “to some degree, you hurt another individual.”
The judge sentenced Martinez to a one year probation mandating he enroll in anger management courses. Afterwards, Martinez spoke to Matthew through ABC-7, “I’m sorry Matthew, there was no intention to hurt you.I apologize to you and your family. And like i said,I didn’t want to hurt you.” Martinez was suspended from the sports program after the incident last year.
Today Judge Fernando Macias left it up to the Las Cruces Public Schoolssystemto see if Martinez will be able to play on the baseball team for the upcoming season — side by side with Matthew Garcia.
