SAN ANTONIO – A Bexar County court dismissed all charges against a former San Antonio police officer who was indicted on counts of possession of child pornography, court documents show.
Charges against Matthew Martin, 44, were dismissed Monday due to “insufficient evidence,” according to court records.
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Martin was formally charged with 39 counts of possession of child pornography in 2022, a jump from four counts when he was arrested a year earlier. At the time, the district attorney’s office said Martin intentionally and knowingly possessed files of children engaging in sexual conduct.
Arrest warrant affidavits from the cases stated that Martin’s ex-fiancée turned his phone over to the police after discovering hundreds of images of nude children ranging from 7 to 10 years old.
However, the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals ruled that the evidence from Martin’s phone should be suppressed because his ex-fiancée brought the phone to police without his consent, and police searched Martin’s phone without his consent, according to court documents.
The court determined the ex-fiancée stole the phone without Martin’s consent “and with the intent to deprive him of his phone,” the ruling states.
She also unlawfully searched through his email account and apps “containing the alleged contraband,” the court ruled.
The officer who searched the phone testified he “took possession of the phone to see if probable cause existed to seize the phone or at least proceed with writing a report,” the documents state. Police obtained a warrant and searched the phone.
The officer testified he believed he had authority to look through the phone because Martin’s ex-fiancée informed him the two were in a common law relationship, which the court determined was false. The officer claimed he believed the phone was community property, according to the ruling.
Martin’s attorney, Ben M. Sifuentes Jr., told KSAT in a statement that “The magistrate judge concluded that based upon the testimony and affidavit for search, the affiant or detective failed to provide the whole truth, that the phone was stolen, illegally searched, and held for six months by Pacheco before SAPD sought a warrant.”
“Had the detective disclosed to the magistrate judge these omitted facts, a warrant would never have been issued and the seized evidence therefore was inadmissible,” Sifuentes said.
The officer’s ex-fiancee asked the investigating officer on body camera if she was “going to be in trouble for stealing his phone,” Sifuentes said.
In a separate statement, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office said “Initially, the trial court, which handled this case, suppressed key evidence that was crucial in proceeding to trial.”
“In response, our office appealed the judge’s ruling to the Fourth Court of Appeals, which upheld the trial court’s decision,” the district attorney’s office said. “We then filed a petition for discretionary review to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which was denied. Given the absence of this critical evidence, we were unable to proceed with prosecution, so we had to close the case.”
Martin resigned from the San Antonio Police Department in 2018 in lieu of a perjury charge from an unrelated case. He was accused of lying about a criminal case he was involved in, as well as his own military history. He didn’t face any charges in those cases.
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