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A candlelight vigil was held last month in Redwood City to honor Marielos Martinez, a mother and grandmother who was killed in 2021, and to protest the plea deal that prosecutors had reached with the East Palo Alto man who beat her to death.
The event was organized by Mothers Against Murder, a nonprofit victims’ advocacy group that says the plea deal offered to the man accused in her death was unjust.
Jason Dixon, 46, of East Palo Alto, recently accepted a plea deal reducing his charge from murder to voluntary manslaughter in Martinez’s killing. Under the agreement — and with credit for time already served — Dixon could be released in six years, according to his defense attorney, Matt Sullivan.
Margaret Petros, executive director of Mothers Against Murder and a victim advocate for the Martinez family, said the plea agreement violated Marsy’s Law. This California constitutional amendment grants crime victims the right to be notified and to participate in and be heard throughout the legal process.
“This is a Marsy’s Law violation,” Petros said. “The eldest daughter, her next of kin, was not contacted.”
An autopsy found Martinez had been beaten with a baseball bat and strangled.
Petros said Dixon has a long history of violent offenses, including assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence. She added that Martinez had previously reported Dixon for another alleged homicide and that the criminal justice system failed to protect her.
San Mateo County court records show a 2008 case in which Dixon pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery.
Supporters at the vigil held candles and signs, sharing letters that demanded justice and systemic reform.
San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said his office met with the Martinez family multiple times during the case and took their concerns seriously. He said the plea deal was necessary due to “serious evidentiary problems” in proving malice aforethought, the legal standard required for a murder conviction.
“Even considering the comments of the family, the disposition for a plea to voluntary manslaughter for a sentence of 12 years in state prison was the appropriate resolution of the case,” Wagstaffe said. “Our job was to do justice based on the evidence we had, even over the objections of the victim’s family.”
Wagstaffe also disputed claims that the family was not properly notified, stating that his team “went to extraordinary lengths” to keep them informed.
“There was no failure to provide proper notice to the family,” he said. “The statement that we did not comply with the rules of Marsy’s Law is simply false.”
As an advocate for Martinez’s family, Petros rejected this claim and is asking for a review of the deal.
“We cannot figure out why [Dixon] got such a lenient sentence,” Petros added.
