Woman pleads guilty in death of toddler boy

By Cara McCoy

Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009 | 11:25 a.m.

A Las Vegas woman today pleaded guilty to her role in the death of a 2-year-old boy, who prosecutors say was killed in 2007 after his father beat him to death with a hammer.

Brandi Reeves, 24, pleaded to a reduced charge of child abuse and neglect with substantial bodily injury in the death of Zander Martino, 2. She had initially been charged with second-degree murder.

Zander’s father, Richard Martino, is still facing murder charges in the boy’s death. His trial, which was scheduled to begin Monday, was reset today to March 1.

“I knew that there was things going on in my house with Richard Martino and Zander Martino and I didn’t get (Zander) the help that he needed,” Reeves said in entering her plea. She told the judge that she had seen Martino being too aggressive toward his son, and had seen bruises and choke marks on the boy.

As part of Reeves’ plea, she has agreed to testify against Martino at trial. Under the amended charges, she can be sentenced to a minimum of two and a maximum of 20 years in prison. The murder charge carried a sentence of 10 years to life.

Reeves last week gave a statement to police about the events leading to Zander’s death, said her attorney, Patti Erickson. In asking for the continuance, Martino’s attorney, Paul Wommer, said he needed additional time to prepare for Reeves’ testimony and for the admission of new evidence, including jailhouse phone calls.

According to an arrest warrant, at about 8:30 a.m. on July 10, 2007, police responded to the home Reeves and Martino shared on Hoover Avenue in Las Vegas. Police had received a report that Reeves, Martino’s live-in girlfriend, had found an unresponsive child.

Zander was one of three children living in the home at the time, and Reeves was their primary caretaker while Martino was at work. On the day Zander died, both Reeves and Martino told police that Martino works construction and hadn’t been in contact with the boy since about 8 p.m. the night before.

Responding paramedics told police that they believed the boy had been dead for six to eight hours before they arrived at the house.

A Child Protective Services worker interviewed one of Martino’s other children and asked if the girl knew how Zander got his “owies.” The arrest report indicates that the child responded, “Dad hit Zander with a hammer last night,” and said that the hammer was in the back yard.

The girl also told the CPS worker that Zander had an injury on his stomach.

An autopsy revealed that the toddler had suffered a series of “trauma-related” injuries, including bruising to the abdomen, a belly full of blood and lacerations and hemorrhages.

Erickson stressed her belief that the boy’s injuries were inflicted by Martino, not Reeves.

Erickson said that Martino was a “controlling” and “manipulative” person who was the one responsible for the boy’s death. She said her client entered the plea because she wasn’t involved in abusing the boy.

She noted that in the weeks before Zander’s death, Reeves had given birth to a baby girl. Reeves was fearful that CPS would remove her daughter and Martino’s children from the home, Erickson said. Martino’s other children had previously been in CPS custody and had only recently been returned to the home, she said, adding that fear of having her newborn taken away was one of the reasons Reeves didn’t report the boy’s abuse to authorities.

Reeves is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17.