The man accused of killing his girlfriend with a hammer on September 21, 2022, was sentenced in DeKalb County Criminal Court last Monday.
Simon Rodriguez Martinez, 36, who was charged with first-degree murder for the horrific crime that claimed the life of 39-year-old Yuri Guerra, pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of second-degree murder and received a 40-year sentence to serve at 100 percent. He was given jail credit of 704 days for time served from September 21, 2022 to August 26, 2024.
The crime was discovered at around 5:45 a.m. on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, after Smithville Police say they received a call reporting a physical domestic at a home at 620 South Mountain Street. Police say the call came from a concerned relative of the victim in the case, who lives out of the area.
Once officers arrived at the home, they discovered the female victim, 39-year-old Yuri Guerra, with obvious physical trauma. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Three children were present at the scene, ages 14, five, and five months, all of which were removed and taken into the custody of the Department of Children’s Services.
Martinez, allegedly admitted to attempting to clean up blood from the scene and to taking a shower before police arrived. Martinez also allegedly admitted to moving the hammer used in the killing, and throwing the clothes he had been wearing in the trash. Police say that Martinez also confessed to hitting Guerra with the hammer after an argument between the two.
TBI special agent Brandon Davenport, said he questioned Martinez after the killing, and he admitted getting into a domestic dispute with Guerra over allegations of infidelity. According to Davenport, Martinez claimed to have pushed Guerra down during the struggle and that she grabbed the hammer and struck him with it. Martinez claimed he then took the hammer away from Guerra and struck her once. Davenport said Martinez’s version of the story is not supported by the evidence in that the condition of Guerra’s body showed multiple blows to her head.
Three children were present in the home at the time of the killing and the oldest, a 14-year-old witnessed the attack and gave a statement to investigators. A blood-stained claw style hammer, believed to have been the murder weapon, was also recovered.
