Prison inmates accused of deadly attack on man convicted in Sacramento County robberies
A man incarcerated for armed robbery and assault in Sacramento County was killed Friday evening in an attack by two other inmates High Desert State Prison in Susanville, officials said.
About 7:30 p.m., prison guards responded when inmates Joseph Gama and Alvaro Saldana attacked inmate Albert Martinez in a maximum security housing unit, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Monday in a news release.
Martinez, 52, was taken to the prison’s triage and treatment area and pronounced dead at 7:55 p.m., prison officials said. Martinez was sentenced to 18 years and eight months in prison on Dec. 13, 1994, for a Sacramento County conviction of four counts of second-degree robbery with a gun, vehicle theft and assault with a firearm.
While incarcerated, Martinez was sentenced in Kings County to serve life in prison with a chance of parole for battery on a non-prisoner, a third strike offense, prison officials said. Martinez also was sentenced on Feb. 7, 2018, in Sacramento County for possessing drugs in jail or prison, an in-prison offense.
The two men accused of attacking Martinez are serving prison sentences stemming from Stanislaus County convictions.
Saldana, 37, was sentenced to 80 years to life in prison on May 31, 2011, for a conviction of first-degree murder with intentional discharge of a firearm. Saldana and his brother Ray Gutierrez were convicted in the shooting death of Roger Villanueva, a 26-year-old fellow gang member and aspiring rap artist during a 2008 fight that escalated to gunfire.
Gama, 24, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on June 3, 2016, for a conviction of assault with a gun inflicting great bodily injury with an enhancement for a street gang act, prison officials said.
Prison officials, the Lassen District Attorney’s Office and the Lassen County Coroner are investigating the homicide. The Office of the Inspector General was notified, and the Lassen County Coroner will determine Martinez’s official cause of death.
