Saint or sinner? Two sides of ex-Miami-Dade commissioner painted in his corruption trial
Seven years after an investigator questioned him about thousands of dollars he received from a constituent — and more than two years after he was arrested on public corruption charges — the trial of suspended Miami-Dade County Commissioner Joe Martinez finally began.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Miami-Dade’s top public corruption prosecutor opened the trial by creating a timeline and explaining to jurors how Martinez became so financially desperate as a private citizen — during four years between electoral victories — that he allegedly backed legislation that would have benefited a store owner in exchange for compensation.
The explanation in the alleged white collar crime became so dense at times that Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Tim VanderGiesen halted his opening statement at one point, telling jurors not to worry, the alleged criminal act will become more clear as evidence is produced at trial.
“You’re going to see a pattern over the years of the defendant’s accounts being delinquent. That’s not a crime. But it shows the defendant needed money,” VanderGiesen told jurors.
What was illegal, VanderGiesen said, was creating legislation in exchange for a financial benefit. In Martinez’s case, that is alleged to be three checks of $5,000 each from Extra Supermarket owner Jorge Negrin, in exchange for legislation that would have helped him and the mall’s owner by allowing extra inventory containers behind the mall and close to a trailer park.
Once VanderGiesen stepped aside, defense attorney Ben Kuehne wasted little time explaining how Martinez — a lifelong public servant who was a cop for almost two decades before serving almost five terms as a county commissioner representing West Kendall — was a selfless to constituents and always looking out for the good of the people.
Barely going into detail about the alleged quid pro quo, Kuehne explained how Martinez introduced Negrin to West Kendall strip mall owner Sergio Delgado and how a multimillion-dollar deal was struck for Negrin to run his Extra Supermarket in the mall, off Southwest Eighth Street and 128th Avenue, with monthly rental payments of $36,000. The attorney said there was nothing unusual about Negrin periodically paying Martinez $5,000 and said the payments had nothing to do with helping out Delgado or Negrin.
“Joe did it [introduced Negrin to Delgado], because that’s what he does, puts people together,” said Kuehne. “The evidence is of legitimate business people trying to do legitimate business. And when there’s a problem, bring it to the attention of the elected representative.”
The trial continued Tuesday morning with lengthy, at times thick explanations of how the county fined Delgado for having illegal containers and the travails store owners must go through to get variances to change laws that would mitigate the fines. Delgado, one of the state’s key witnesses, is expected to testify at the end of the week.
Arrest halted lengthy public service career
Martinez’s lengthy public service career came to a halt in September 2022 when he was suspended by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during his fifth term in office after being charged in August 2022 with a pair of felonies, unlawful compensation and conspiracy to commit unlawful compensation.
The charges could land the 66-year-old in prison for as many as 20 years. The state claims the county measure sponsored by Martinez to help Negrin and Delgado would have increased the number of cargo containers holding inventory behind a strip mall. Though the bill was never voted on or considered by the commission, the intent is all that matters under the law.
Delgado had been fined thousands of dollars by county code inspectors over the years for adding illegal containers. The crime is alleged to have been committed in 2016, just after Martinez was re-elected to the county commission after spending four years as a security consultant.
Martinez, who lost an August primary to be the Republican candidate for county sheriff, called the charges are “false” and said they are politically motivated. He had spent 17 years with the Miami-Dade Police Department before being elected to the county commission.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 2:52 PM.
