Cristhian Maradiaga-Martinez
STEVENS POINT, WI (WSAU-WAOW) — A Florida man who was working to remodel a Stevens Point hotel was convicted of first-degree attempted homicide against one of his coworkers.
WAOW TV reports that a jury found Cristhian Maradiaga-Martinez guilty of shooting the victim three times including once in the face. Witnesses say he then jumped on the victim and started to strangle him, and didn’t stop until police arrived.
Maradiaga-Martinez also threatened to kill the other witnesses, who were also part of the crew remodeling the hotel, if they did not leave the room.
The victim said he had just told Maradiaga-Martinez that he had been contacted by investigators in Florida about his involvement in an attempted homicide in that state and that he intended to tell them what he knew about Maradiaga-Martinez’s involvement in that case.
During the trial, it was discovered that the victim did call 911 before the shooting and asked for help from police because he was afraid Maradiaga-Martinez would hurt him, but he claimed that the dispatcher hung up on him before sending help.
“The jury did their work and held this defendant accountable for trying to silence the victim by killing him so the victim could not speak to law enforcement about what the defendant had done in Florida when he shot the same gun used in the crime in Stevens Point into an occupied gas station striking a clerk,” said Portage County DA Luis Molepske Jr in a press release.
Maradiaga-Martinez will be sentenced at a later date. He faces up to 67 years in prison.
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