Oswaldo Martinez’s competency to stand trial in a 2005 death will be reviewed again in November
By Danielle Zielinski
After almost two years of intensive sign-language classes, school is out for Oswaldo Martinez.
A judge ordered Monday that the 36-year-old illegal immigrant from El Salvador, who is charged in the January 2005 slaying of 16-year-old Brittany Binger, be moved from Western State Hospital in Staunton to the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail so that he can have more contact with his attorneys.
“Western State was tasked with teaching him sign language – they have done that,” Williamsburg-James City County Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Nate Green said Monday. “They have given him communication skills. Anybody that knows sign language can communicate with Mr. Martinez.”
Martinez is charged with rape, murder, sodomy and robbery in connection with Binger’s death.
Photo: 16-year-old Brittany Binger was so badly mauled that police were forced to use dental records to identify her bodyInvestigators believe the teenager was attacked from behind near the entrance to Whispering Pines Mobile Home Court in James City County on Jan. 2, 2005, then raped and killed.
Martinez, who cannot hear or speak, was deemed incompetent to stand trial in September 2005 because of his language deficiencies and inability to communicate with his attorneys.
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