Trial date nears for singer's ex-husband Crime: Marin stands accused of sexually abusing Rivera's daughter, sister.
By Wendy Thomas Russell, Staff writer
LONG BEACH - After climbing to success as a Latin American recording artist, Jenni Rivera will revisit her turbulent past this month when her ex-husband faces a criminal trial in Long Beach Superior Court for allegedly molesting the singer's daughter and sister.
Rivera, a Long Beach native who was named Female Mexican Regional Artist at a Latin awards show in Miami two months ago, is expected to be called as a witness in the case of Trinidad Marin, 43, the father of her three oldest children.
Marin, who is free on $1 million bail, is charged with nine felonies - including counts of child rape, continuous sexual abuse of a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
For years, Rivera has publicly discussed her abusive relationship with Marin - he was convicted of battery in 1993 - and has since used the experience to help fuel her singing career. She has offered up edgy songs in Spanish and English and has developed a rebellious persona based largely on her unflinching portrayal of her own life. Her new album, Mi Vida Loca, features a cover version of Gloria Gaynor's female-empowerment anthem "I Will Survive."
Although Rivera is unrecognized by most visitors at the Long Beach Courthouse, the case has nonetheless caused a stir among the Spanish-language TV networks - namely Paparazzi TV and Escandalo TV, which have documented the case since its inception.
Despite a gag order issued at the behest of Marin's attorney, Rivera has not been shy to comment on the case. On Wednesday, as she walked out of the courthouse in oversized sunglasses and heavy makeup, the cameras swooped in to request interviews with her and members of her family, many of whom are also in the music industry. They obliged.
"Now that he's arrested, it's hard to go back and relive everything and go to court when you're a public figure," Rivera told Guidelive.com earlier this month. "Your records are public records. But, at the same time, I can't say I regret it because I got the best gift that life and God could give me, which are my children from that relationship."
Marin, known as "Trino," was charged with sexual abuse in 1997 after his daughter and sister-in-law reported that they had been victimized over several years in the early 1990s, both before and after his split from Rivera.
But before he could be interviewed by police, Marin left town and - despite repeated efforts to find him over the years - managed to elude capture.
As the charges remained in effect, Marin was considered a fugitive until 1997, when Riverside police, apparently acting on a tip, arrested him at his home there.
The charges stem from a series of incidents that allegedly took place between about 1988 and 1997, mostly at residences in Long Beach. His sister-in-law was 7 when the alleged abuse began; his daughter was 8.
The Press-Telegram's policy is not to release the names of alleged victims of sexual assault.
According to the transcripts of a preliminary hearing held last year, both girls experienced the abuse - which consisted mostly of fondling - more frequently when Marin was fighting with his wife.
The victims, who are now in their 20s, said they opted to keep the molestation quiet for years because Marin had threatened to harm other family members if they told.
Finally, in 1997, the sister-in-law said, she realized she didn't have to remain silent any longer.
"There was a story about another girl being molested by an adult, and I remember my brother defending the girl and believing her immediately," she recalled from the witness stand. "So I said, `If they believe her, then they'll for sure believe me, and they'll defend me, and they'll protect me."'
Rivera's daughter with Marin was 12 years old at the time. She testified that she refused to turn her father in because he threatened to send her to Mexico to live with his mother - a prospect that terrified her.
"Also," she testified, "I was afraid that my mom would get very angry and possibly, I don't know ... I felt that she would probably kill him or something, and she would go to jail, and he would be dead. I didn't know where I was going to be. I was just afraid."
Earlier this year, a hallway scuffle between the Riveras and Marins led Long Beach Courthouse bailiffs to heighten security in the case. At Marin's hearing last week, the families remained on opposite sides of the courtroom, were released from court separately, and had no contact.
Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani, who will preside over the weeklong trial, prohibited the sides from interacting until the end of the case.
"I understand your feelings and your pain," she said, "but it's now in the process of the criminal justice system."
In a last effort to avoid trial, Marin's attorney, Richard Poland, requested a dismissal of the case Wednesday on the grounds that his client had been denied his right to a speedy trial. Long Beach police, Poland argued, did too little to find his client during the last nine years.
Comparet-Cassani denied the motion.
"The defendant also never asserted his right to a speedy trial all these years, did he?" she asked, smiling.
While the details of Marin's defense are unclear, Poland has indicated that he intends to argue that the allegations were manufactured by Rivera.
"It's the defense position that the entire case is brought to revive a rather mediocre singing career by the mother of one of the victims," Poland said at the preliminary hearing. "That this whole case is an attempt to garner and create some sort of publicity."
WELL THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE UPDATE JUANITA! WELL I AM SOOOOO GLAD THAT FINALLY SOMETHING IS BEING DONE AGAINST THAT S*%@ID ASS! PERO PUES PERSONALLY COMPADESCO MUCHO A MI DIVA CAUSE ESO DE ANDAR EN CORTE ES UNA C*^%#A! ...LOL TELL ME ABOUT IT! BUT ANYHOW I WILL DEFENETLY BE PRAYING PARA QUE TODO LE SALGA BIEN A ELLA...EN SERIO QUE SE LO MERECE...! THANK YOU AGAIN!
Presuntamente violó a sus propias hijas y a su ex cuñada
La familia de Jenni Rivera sintió dolor tras comenzar el juicio contra su ex esposo, quien presuntamente violó a las hijas que tuvo con la cantante y a la hermana de la intérprete, ya que los testimonios fueron desgarradores. En la corte de California inició el juicio contra su ex pareja Trinidad Marín y la madre de la cantante a pesar de todo, está positiva.
Me siento bien, me siento confiada, Dios tiene que ser justo y si Jenni no llegara a ganar el caso, de todos modos allá arriba no lo gana, dijo.
El juicio inició con las declaraciones de la hermana de Jenni y una de sus hijas, ambas relataron cómo fue que Trinidad Marín abusó sexualmente de ellas, algo que afectó a los familiares de la cantante.
Tras esta primera audiencia, Jenni abundó: Me siento bien en lo que se puede decir, yo creo que mi madre siente el dolor por mi hija, por mi hermana, por toda la familia, yo creo que entonces tiene que llorar, siente en su corazón la necesidad de sacarlo.
El juicio duró más de cinco horas, el jurado escuchó con atención las declaraciones de las víctimas, ellas evitaron tener contacto visual con Trinidad Marín quien se mantuvo serio durante la audiencia.
Trinidad Marin accused of abuse of daughter, sister-in-law.
By Wendy Thomas Russell, Staff writer
Article Launched: 05/08/2007 10:46:56 PM PDT
LONG BEACH-Wearing a pin-striped suit and a somber expression, Trinidad Marin sat motionless in court Tuesday as his attorney asked a six-man, six-woman jury to acquit him of aggravated sexual assault on his prepubescent daughter and sister-in-law.
Marin, the 43-year-old ex-husband of Latina singer Jenni Rivera, claims that the girls made up the abuse in 1997 and then reported it to Long Beach police as part of a "publicity stunt" for his ex-wife.
"What can be worse than being a child molester?" Marin's attorney, Richard Poland, asked the jury in his closing argument. "Maybe it's being falsely accused as a child molester."
Marin was charged in 1997 with nine felonies - including counts of a lewd act with a child under the age of 14, aggravated sexual assault and continuous sexual abuse of a child. He disappeared from Long Beach before he could be arrested, however, and was considered a fugitive from justice until his capture last year.
The case has ignited a flurry of media coverage among Spanish-language TV and radio stations, and has been responsible for at least two emotional clashes in the hallways of Long Beach Superior Court. The most recent occurred Tuesday, after jurors had begun their delibrations, when family members of Marin and Rivera exchanged verbal barbs as they exited the courtroom. More than a dozen bailiffs were called to the third floor to disperse the angry crowd.
In his own closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Mark Burnley assured jurors that Marin was a predator and highly deserving of the stigma attached to child molestation.
"This case is such a textbook example of what a sexual molestation case is all about," Burnley said.
Not only did Marin make sure to abuse his daughter and sister-in-law in private places - bedrooms, bathrooms and a car, for example - but he took advantage of his "repeated access" to them as a family member and preyed on their sexual inexperience and embarrassment, Burnley said.
The victims "were easy targets," he said, and it took them years to summon the courage necessary to report the crimes.
Free on $1 million bail, Marin is accused of abusing the girls in the late 1980s and early 1990s, both before and after his split from Rivera. His sister-in-law was 7 when the alleged abuse began. His daughter was 8. If convicted, he could face a sentence of life in prison.
Poland focused many of his remarks Tuesday on inconsistencies in the victims' testimony. Some of the stories they told to police in 1997, he said, were not the same stories they told during the trial 10 years later - even when the stories involved traumatic events.
"The details are what makes the truth," he argued.
Also, he questioned the daughter's accusation that she was abused while sleeping in between her two siblings on several occasions. He said he didn't believe that the other two children could sleep through such a thing.
"If you put this in a movie," he said, "people would walk out. It's not reasonable."
But Burnley said the victims were telling the truth about their experiences, and that any inconsistencies were minor and understandable given their age at the time and the passage of more than a decade.
"The girls grew up," Burnley said. "Their memories evolved over time. So, of course, there's going to be differences in their story.
"We are human beings," he added. "We are not androids. I cannot stress that enough."
While the case primarily comes down to the word of the two victims, there were other witnesses who testified for the prosecution during the weeklong trial.
A childhood friend of the sister-in-law said she had been told of the abuse but promised not to tell anyone else, and didn't. And a doctor testified that she had examined Marin's daughter when she was 12 years old and found that her vagina appeared to have been penetrated on multiple occasions.
Still, Poland suggested that it was Rivera's influence on the victims that brought the case to the police and, ultimately, to trial.
Back in 1997, he said, Rivera was just starting out in the music business - following in the footsteps of her father, Pedro Rivera, a producer of Mexican banda-style music. Perhaps, Poland suggested, she hoped to jump-start her career with a salacious criminal case against her ex-husband.
Since then Rivera, a Long Beach native, has released a number of albums and was named Female Mexican Regional Artist of the Year at a Latin awards show in Miami three months ago.
"Jenni Rivera was selling cassettes on Atlantic (Avenue) and Market (Street) when this whole thing started," Poland said. Now, "she's a very successful recording artist."
Jurors will continue their deliberations today in the courtroom of Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani.
thanks 4 the info juanita y el abogado de marin c esta contradiciendo solo el dijo q las pruebas son las q cuentan so there it is the girls have proofs f una dr q fueron violadas so q mas quieren y all the details. and to me it seems q quiere hacer creer q jenni is to blame nada mas x ser famous. pero lets all pray para q todo salga bien y a favor d las girls q es lo menos q c merecen
THANKS JUANITA FOR THE UPDATED INFO... THE MORE I READ THE MORE IT MAKES ME SICK. THAT MAN IS EMOTIONALLY CRAZY!!! POBRESITAS CUANTO TIEMPO CARGAR CON TANTO ASCO EN SUS CORAZONES Y AHORA TOLERAR TODO Y SENTIR DE NUEVO ESAS EMOCIONES. QUE TERRIBLE... COMO ESE SENOR LE QUITO LO MAS SAGRADO A ESAS MUCHACHITAS NO TIENE PERDON DE DIOS.....OJALA QUE SE HAGA JUSTICIA................
Marin guilty of molesting his daughter, sister-in-law
The former husband of popular singer Jenni Rivera faces 15 years to life in prison.
By Wendy Thomas Russell, Staff writer
Article Launched: 05/09/2007 10:42:23 PM PDT
Singer Jenni Rivera, right, embraces her younger sister, Rosa Rivera, Wednesday after Jenni's former husband, Trinidad Marin, was found guilty on eight felony counts of aggravated sexual assault on his daughter, and on Rosa Rivera, in 1997. (Diandra Jay / Press-Telegram)
LONG BEACH - No fewer than 16 bailiffs filled an emotionally charged courtroom Wednesday as a 43-year-old father was convicted of molesting his daughter and sister-in-law more than 10 years ago.
Trinidad Marin was found guilty of abusing the prepubescent girls while living in Long Beach with his then-wife, popular Latina singer Jenni Rivera. He was charged in 1997 with multiple felony counts, including continuous sexual abuse of a child, but was a fugitive until his capture last year.
"I feel like justice has been served," an emotional Rivera said after the verdict Wednesday. "I can't say I'm happy ... but this is what's fair."
The case has drawn particularly heavy security because the two families - the Riveras and the Marins - have clashed in the courthouse hallways on at least two occasions, requiring dozens of bailiffs to intervene.
On Wednesday, after Long Beach Superior Court Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani ordered that Marin be placed in handcuffs and taken into custody, a number of the victims' family members erupted into applause, yelling "Yes!" and stomping the floor with their feet. Meanwhile, on the other side of the courtroom, several of Marin's family members sobbed loudly, tears streaming down their faces.
Separated by a team of bailiffs, the families then were peacefully escorted out of the building one at a time. In the courthouse hallway, members of the Rivera family - several of whom are in the music industry - broke down in tears of joy.
"Thank you, thank you!" victim Rosa Rivera exclaimed, as she hugged her brothers and sobbed. "God is good! God is so, so good!"
Marin was found guilty of eight felony counts and acquitted of one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child - a count that involved an incident of alleged rape. He was convicted of three counts of lewd act upon a child, three counts of oral copulation of a child, one count of aggravated sexual assault and one count of continuous sexual assault. Evidence showed the abuse began when the girls were 7 and 8 years old, respectively, and continued for several years until they built up the courage to tell their stories. Both women are now in their 20s.
Marin faces a minimum sentence of 15 years to life in prison when he returns to court June 15.
Since his arrest last year, Marin has maintained his innocence, arguing that his ex-wife had manufactured the accusations against him and then got the girls to cooperate as a "publicity stunt" to advance her own career.
Rivera released her newest album, "Mi Vida Loca," in April and recently was named Female Mexican Regional Artist of the Year at a Latin awards in Miami.
When asked about the defense Wednesday, Rivera smiled wearily, her eyes still wet with tears.
"They've got to blame someone," she said, shaking her head. "They've got to blame someone."
THANX 4 KEEPING US UP TO DATE ON THE TRIAL JUANITA .. SHE LOOKS SOOOOO HAPPY AND IM SOOO HAPPY 4 HER ..OMG YESSS LIKE ROSIE SAID "GOD IS GOOD" YES HE IS AND FINALMENTE ESE HOMBRE PAGARA TODO LO KE ISO...