Free Thought Project – by Jack Burns
We first brought you the story of Joshua Martinez in 2017, when he was arrested for refusing to give his age to police on a Nevada courthouse steps. He was attempting to enter the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse, without having to identify himself.
He wanted to attend the Cliven Bundy court case without giving up who he is and why he was there, something he believed was a clear violation of his constitutional rights. Martinez was denied entry. Later, in an attempt to sue the U.S. Marshals for disallowing him entry into the Nevada court, he returned to the court to identify the specific Marshals who denied him entry. That action turned out to be a mistake as he was promptly arrested.
Days later, while Martinez was working security at a local nightclub, several officers in plains clothes approached him and asked about his firearm. They informed him that, even though his H&K 45 in his outside the waistband holster was clearly visible, he was going to be arrested and charged with carrying a concealed weapon without a permit—a clearly false charge.
Martinez believes because he is a Constitutional activist he was targeted for arrest by one certain detective he later learned was a LVMPD Anti-terrorism Division Detective/Joint Terrorist Task Force with the FBI. His name is Detective Kenneth Mead. Cliven Bundy was cleared of all wrongdoing but Martinez wasn’t so lucky.
Even though Martinez was not a person prohibited from owning a firearm, and even though he was employed by the nightclub, and even though his gun was clearly visible, the charges stuck. Martinez took a plea deal which gave him 2-years of probation and had to spend 140 days in jail at the Clark County Detention Center.
When asked why his government believes he’s a domestic terrorist, Martinez responded:
I don’t believe in violence. I disagree with drug prohibition and driver licensing…simply because a person if for the legalization of marijuana doesn’t make them a pothead.
Nevada does not guarantee its residents a jury trial in criminal cases and I simply believe it is unconstitutional.
Martinez believes Mead likes to lump all people who make waves as constitutionalists and brand them as troublemakers. That’s what he says Mead did to him.
Although Martinez cannot prove it, he has seen Mead show up in court for his own court proceedings.
On my sentencing on Feb. 26, I saw detective Mead with a Manila folder in his hand. This guy isn’t supposed to be here. He wasn’t the arresting officer and he wasn’t on the case. My defense attorney came back to me and told me ‘Dude he’s got all these Facebook posts!’.
Detective Kenneth Mead gave them to the prosecutor. The prosecutor gave them to the judge. And the judge just loses it and tells me I belong in prison. He gave us an option to either withdraw my plea or take it to trial.
The judge emptied the courtroom and the only person allowed to stay was detective Mead who was “just smiling” according to Martinez. Nevertheless, Martinez was granted probation but that didn’t last long. The young man would quickly be found guilty of probation violations just 19 days later. He would spend the next 120 days in jail after having spent 20 days awaiting trial. Martinez now wears a GPS ankle monitor and anything from “jaywalking to a traffic ticket” can have his probation revoked which is set to be appealed in April of 2020.
So, in the land of the free, for passing out copies of the U.S. Constitution on a courthouse steps, for failing to identify to a police officer, and for legally open-carrying a firearm on the job site, a constitutional activist was sent to jail, branded a felon—a felon who personally believes he was targeted for expressing his freedom of speech and for “taking up for the Bundy’s”.
They’re literally are afraid of me (branding him a domestic terrorist), not because I’m violent but because I say real things. I know they’re going to come and find something on me again. I just want to get my story out so people will know what’s going on with me.
Martinez has four kids and comes from a good family—who have all served their country. His father was an Air Force veteran and he spent his formative years on U.S. military bases. He told TFTP he is now on the Homeland Security’s high threat watch list but Martinez contends he’s always been respectful of law enforcement and is a non-violent constitutional activist. He told us he believes his civil rights have been violated but says no civil rights attorney in Clark County will touch his case because they’re afraid of LVMPD. He is currently looking for an outside attorney to take his case in a lawsuit against Det. Mead, and the LVMPD.