COLUMBUS – A man faces a life sentence after being found guilty on Friday in the brutal beating death of his wife in a jealous rage.
UPDATE 11/22/22 9:26 a.m.: Tyack’s office reports that Common Pleas Court Judge Kim Brown sentenced Santiago Martinez to life in prison on Nov. 21 for the murder of his wife. He will be eligible for parole in 15 years.
Jurors found Santiago Martinez guilty of murder in the 2021 death of his wife, Alexandra Berrios, while the two were taking a walk in Darby Creek Metro Park, according to a release from the office of Franklin County prosecutor Gary Tyack.
Martinez said he and his wife were in the middle of divorce proceedings when Berrios told him during the walk that she had been unfaithful years earlier while Martinez was living in the U.S. and she was still in El Salvador, Tyack said.
Martinez beat his wife with a log and she lingered in a vegetative state until her death on May 2, 2021, Tyack said.
Martinez faces a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on Nov. 21.