Molly Miller

In this episode of Night Raid, we explore how the eight and a half year legal process has affected both the Martinez and the Diamond families, through interviews with David Martinez and his attorney, Brady Sullivan, and a reenactment of the powerful victim impact statements delivered by Shaun Diamond’s daughter Margo, and others affected by his killing. And finally, a major development in this story is expected to occur sometime in the early Summer of 2023, and we plan to be on hand when it happens.

The jury in The People vs. David Martinez gets the case and takes five days to reach a verdict. We hear the arguments and personal drama that went on behind closed doors through interviews with two of the jurors. After learning the jury’s decision, we explore the aftermath of that trial.

We’ve heard from the prosecution and defense. Now, David Martinez himself takes the stand. We reënact David’s testimony, starting with his account of the night of the raid. David explains in detail what he claims he heard and saw in the seconds before his door was breached by the SWAT team and why he fired his gun. Then David Martinez faces a razor-sharp cross examination by Deputy DA Michael Blake.

The last episode brought listeners the prosecutors case against David Martinez, accused of killing Pomona police officer Shaun Diamond. This time, defense attorney Brady Sullivan takes the lectern and presents a drastically different narrative: the story of a botched SWAT raid that resulted in a chaotic scene in which David shot in self-defense, thinking the officers were Mongols or other hostile intruders. In this episode we break down the most critical moments of the raid, trying to figure out what David saw and heard in the dark. We illuminate the case for David’s acquittal through testimony reënactment, recordings of...

In 2019, the trial of David Martinez commenced in Courtroom 105 of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown LA. The prosecution sought to portray David as a dangerous gang member - a cold blooded killer who saw an opportunity to kill a cop and took his shot. In this episode we follow the deputy district attorneys’ argument through testimony reenactments and recordings of detective interviews, illustrating the impact of Shaun Diamond’s death on his fellow Pomona police officers. The episode offers evidence presented by the prosecution that calls into question David’s sobriety at the time of the...

The 2014 SWAT raid on the Martinez home, which left a Pomona police officer dead, was part of a multi-jurisdictional operation targeting members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club. So what was David Martinez’s relationship with the Mongols, and how did that relationship lead to a raid on his family home in San Gabriel? In this episode we zoom out from the night of the raid to see a bigger picture that includes the Mongols’ long history with the ATF and David’s fraught history with them. We then explore the SWAT raid itself with police militarization expert Radley Balko, plus...