A judge in Joshua Tree Superior Court threw out the plea agreement yesterday of the Twentynine Palms man who pled guilty to a hit-and-run accident that severely injured a Twentynine Palms boy in April. In June, Dennis Martinez, 43, accepted a plea bargain in which he would be sentenced to two years in exchange for pleading guilty to felony hit and run. Jacob Baker, now 13, was riding his scooter in front of his home April 26 when he was struck by Martinez in his pick up truck, who then fled the scene. Using tips from the public, detectives tracked down Martinez and arrested him at a home on Maricopa Avenue. Yesterday, Judge Dan Detienne was to have formally sentenced Martinez to two years in prison, but after hearing a victim’s impact statement by the boy’s mother, Sheriff’s Service Specialist Anita Baker, the judge refused to accept the plea bargain agreement. Martinez turned down the option of a jury trial and instead accepted a sentence of three years in state prison at Chino for the felony hit and run with great bodily injury, followed by another three years for violating his probation, to run consecutively.
