He’s Ordered to Prison, 15 Years Late

A former Teamsters Union official who was never ordered to begin his four-year prison term was told Thursday by a federal appeals court to begin serving his time, nearly 15 years late.

The case of Frank Martinez, 49, who was convicted in 1973 of obstruction of justice and sentenced in Los Angeles, “just fell through the cracks,” said his attorney, Allen A. Sigel.

His appeals were exhausted in 1976 and the FBI discovered his failure to serve his prison time seven years later, in 1983.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Martinez could not avoid prison because of the government oversight.

It did, however, leave open the possibility that he could avoid some or all of the potential prison time by seeking administrative claims through the prison system.

Sigel said he would ask for a stay in the execution of the sentence to give him time to make the request to the prison system or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“He has had this sword of Damocles hanging over his head all these years,” Sigel said. “It’s as if he has been on parole.”

Martinez was convicted of threatening to drive businessman Robert Dougherty out of business in an effort to intimidate him out of testifying in a grand jury investigation. He was acquitted of a more serious charge of conspiracy.

U.S. District Judge Manuel Real in Los Angeles sentenced Martinez to four years in prison, rejecting a recommendation of probation. Martinez failed to surrender when his appeals were exhausted and was never formally ordered to do so by the court.