A Harford County judge denied two defense motions related to jury selection Monday during a pre-trial conference for Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, who is charged with rape and murder in the August 2023 killing of Rachel Morin of Bel Air. Martinez-Hernandez’s trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Harford County Circuit Court Judge Yolanda Curtin said jury selection will take place Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with 120 to 130 potential jurors arriving at the courthouse each day. Her plan is to have a jury selected by the end of the day Thursday and opening statements on Friday.

Morin, a 37-year-old Bel Air mother of five, was reported missing by her boyfriend on Aug. 5, 2023, hours after she went for a walk on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air. Morin’s body was found in a ditch the next day, about a mile from the trailhead, after what the Harford County Sheriff’s Office described as “a violent attack.”

Martinez-Hernandez, 24, of El Salvador, was arrested in June in Oklahoma and is facing several charges, including first-degree rape and first-degree murder in Morin’s death.

Lawyers representing Martinez-Hernandez submitted two motions Monday, one asking the judge to sequester jurors and a second requesting the use of an additional questionnaire during juror selection.

During the conference Monday Martinez-Hernandez sat in a black-and-white prison uniform with shackles around his ankles and his wrists cuffed in front of his stomach. He was accompanied by three defense attorneys and two translators speaking to him through microphones and headphones. According to police Martinez-Hernandez entered the U.S. illegally in 2023 after he was accused of murdering a woman in El Salvador.

The courtroom was primarily empty with Patricia Morin, Rachel Morin’s mother, sitting next to her attorney, Randolph Rice, in the second row behind the prosecution.

Similar to the January hearing during which Martinez-Hernandez requested to have his trial moved out of Harford County due to the case’s national publicity, much of the conversation Monday revolved around pre-trial publicity, the political climate surrounding the case and the potential impact the two could have on jurors.

In their first motion, Martinez-Hernandez’s defense asked for the ability to give potential jurors a questionnaire to further identify potential bias and knowledge of the case.

Harford County State’s Attorney Allison Healy objected to the questionnaire primarily because it was filed so close to the trial’s start date. Healy said the only purpose of the questionnaire and the request was to delay the trial due to the approval process required for the questions.

The motion was denied by Curtin, who said some of the proposed questions asking about things such as whether a juror made campaign contributions to Healy or if they donated to the Morin family, were a “fishing expedition” that didn’t identify bias.

Curtin said the current the process for juror questioning is sufficient.

The second motion filed by the defense aimed to sequester jurors, housing them in a hotel without access to electronics each night after trial hearings. The defense argued that pre-trial publicity and growing national interest in the case could potentially prejudice jurors by presenting information outside of the courtroom that will not be discussed during the trial.

Curtin asked if the defense’s intention was to have the jurors cut off from their everyday lives and the outside world during the trial. Public Defender Marcus Jenkins responded “yes.”

Curtin denied the request, calling it “extreme” and “not necessary” and stating that jurors haven’t been sequestered in a Maryland trial in more than 20 years.

The defense maintained the position that their job is to “ensure Martinez-Hernandez receives a fair trial” and that the pre-trial publicity is posing a challenge to that.

During the pre-trial conference defense lawyers as well as Healy and Curtin all agreed that Rice’s comments to the media have been an “issue” in the case. Healy requested that Curtin order Rice to not speak to the media during the trial. Curtin had a sidebar conference with the attorneys, including Rice, after which Rice said he was asked to “be mindful” in his comments to the media, but not barred from speaking to journalists.

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