An illegal migrant has been convicted of raping and murdering mother-of-five Rachel Morin after the jury deliberated for just one hour.
On Monday, Victor Martinez-Hernandez was found guilty of first degree murder, first degree rape and kidnapping for the horrific August 2023 attack on the 37-year-old mother in Baltimore.
He now must await sentencing as he faces life in prison for the sick crime.
Prosecutors wrapped up their case in the jury trial on Friday and the defense spent just 10 minutes responding on Monday.
This paved the way for an astonishingly short deliberation period for the jurors, Fox Baltimore reported. They had returned their verdict within an hour.
Harford County State Attorney Alison Healey has already indicated she will seek the maximum penalty for the 24-year-old killer.
‘The quickness of the verdict speaks to the strength of the evidence in the case,’ she said, noting she was not surprised. ‘This was an airtight case.’
Healey also said that Morin ‘fought for her life’ in her final moments.
On Monday, Victor Martinez-Hernandez was found guilty of first degree murder, first degree rape and kidnapping for the horrific August 2023 attack on the 37-year-old mother in Baltimore
Her body had been stuffed in a tunnel drain. An autopsy revealed Morin died from a combination of strangulation and blunt-force trauma
‘She was viciously beaten, raped and ultimately murdered at the hands of the defendant.’
Jurors had heard Morin was on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air when she was dragged into the woods and savagely brutalized.
Her body had been stuffed in a tunnel drain. An autopsy revealed Morin died from a combination of strangulation and blunt-force trauma.
Police say Hernandez had been living in the United States illegally since February 2023 – just months before targeting his victim.
Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler slammed the immigration system which allowed Hernandez to enter the country and remain in the United States despite committing other crimes.
‘The failure here, again, is the immigration system that allowed this person to enter our country illegally and remain in our country and commit crimes in Los Angeles and then here in Harford County,’ Gahler said.
‘We all suspected that Rachel was not his first victim. It is my understanding that this suspect, this monster, fled to the United States illegally after committing the brutal murder of a young woman in El Salvador a month earlier in January of 2023.’
Martinez-Hernandez went on the run after the crime and was ultimately arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June 2024 after his DNA was found at the scene.
Rachel Morin’s tragic death inflamed debates about the illegal migrant crisis in the United States
A search of his phone showed he had searched for the terms ‘Bel Air,’ ‘Rachel’ and an incorrect spelling of her surname after the murder, the court was told.
Morin’s murder inflamed debates about illegal immigrants after details of his previous alleged crimes emerged.
Morin’s mother, Patty Morin, last month criticized the immigration policies of the Biden-Harris administration.
She shared heartbreaking testimony in congress during a hearing titled, ‘A Country Without Borders: How the Biden-Harris Open-Borders Policies Have Undermined Our Safety and Security.’
‘If they had done the border protocols that were in place but was set aside, just a simple DNA swab, they would know that he had a INTERPOL warrant for murder in his home country,’ Morin said to the House Committee on Homeland Security.
Donald Trump said Morin’s murder was a horrific example of the president failing in his basic duty to protect American citizens.
