Ex-husband of Latina singer gets 31 years for molestation

if(requestedWidth > 0){ document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.width = requestedWidth + "px"; document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.margin = "0px 0px 10px 10px"; } LONG BEACH - The ex-husband of Latina singer Jenni Rivera was sentenced to 31 years to life in prison Wednesday for molesting his prepubescent daughter and sister-in-law - charges he continues to deny.

Trinidad Marin, 43, looked sullen and detached as the two victims, now in their 20s, stood in court and offered their forgiveness to the man who stole large swaths of their childhoods.

"I just would like to tell my father that I love him and I forgive him," said Jamie Marin, who was abused between the ages of 8 and 12. "He may not think that I love him, but I do."

Wearing a blue jail uniform at his sentencing in Long Beach Superior Court, Marin refused to make eye-contact with his daughter, or with other family members, despite several efforts to speak directly to him. When asked if he would like to make a statement himself, he shook his head "No."

Marin, whose crimes occurred in Long Beach, was charged in 1997 but became a fugitive from justice until last year. A jury convicted him May 9 of eight felony counts - 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.

Singer Jenni Rivera, a Long Beach native who recently was named Female Mexican Regional Artist of the Year at a Latin awards show in Miami, hails from a large family of Spanish-language singers. Marin is the father of three of her children.

Earlier in the case, the Riveras and the Marins clashed verbally and physically in the courthouse hallways. The outbursts resulted in increased security at the trial and sentencing.

On Wednesday, Jenni Rivera apologized to Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani and the courtroom bailiff for the past actions of her family.

"We were sometimes a problem," she said, "because, I guess, because there was so much emotion involved."

She ended her remarks by saying, "I'm glad this is over."

"I'm sure you are," the judge said, sympathetically.

Rivera's sister, Rosa, also addressed the court, saying that, because of Marin, she had lost her innocence at age 8. For years afterward, she said, she also lost her trust "in men, herself and the world."

As for a proper sentence for the defendant, she said, she couldn't offer an opinion.

"I don't know what a person's childhood is worth," she said.

Rosa Rivera also told the judge that she could no longer look her niece "in the eyes" because of her own lingering guilt. Had she reported the abuse immediately, she said, her niece might never have been victimized.

Interjecting, Comparet-Cassani told Rivera that all the guilt belonged to Marin - not to her.

"You are not responsible for anything that happened," she said.

Rosa Rivera nodded, and said, "Thank you."

Marin's only son, 15-year-old Michael, also spoke.

He talked of how he had "lost a lot of years" with his father when he became a fugitive 10 years ago to avoid arrest. (The defendant later started up a new life in Riverside County under a different name.)

Michael said his real reason for standing up was to say, "Goodbye."

"I never got to say that before, and that's all," he said before returning to his seat.

Marin's attorney, Richard Poland, made a last request for a new trial, saying he still believed that "Trinidad Marin is an innocent man," and he blamed himself for the conviction.

Poland apologized to Marin and Marin's family for "letting them down" and classified the case as a miscarriage of justice.

But the judge strongly disagreed.

"It's not a case of what Mr. Poland did," she said. "It's a case of what the evidence was."

The judge said she considered child molestation among the three most horrendous crimes - below murder and torture.

To molest your own children, she added, "was a betrayal of the worst kind."