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Last Wednesday afternoon, the May term of the Decatur County Superior Court convened, where Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael Bankston prosecuted Enrique Martinez for rape, child molestation, aggravated child molestation and sodomy.

Martinez was found guilty at trial by Judge Kevin Chason and sentenced to life, with possibility of parole on the rape conviction, life with 25 years to be served in the state prison on the aggravated child molestation conviction and 20 years with 5 years to be served in the state prison system and balance on probation concurrent with the Rape sentence on the child molestation conviction.

Following his sentencing, Martinez asked for forgiveness and stated that he was “a bad man.”

Martinez then returned to the Decatur County Jail and was put back into general population.

Martinez showed great remorse for his actions toward the young girl he raped during his sentencing, but remorse was not enough. On Friday, Decatur County jailers found Martinez hanging in his cell with a note.

Martinez had written a note in Spanish, expressing his apologies, according to an interpreter.

Captain Robert Humphrey, who was at Martinez’s trial said he did not foresee this happening.

“I’ve worked this job for 35 years and it is not common,” he said. “It happens rarely; it all just depends on the mentality of the person.”

Humphrey said Martinez may have realized he would never see anything beyond a cell again and decided he could not handle it, taking his own life.

While suicide is never the answer, Humphrey hopes Martinez’s victim can maybe now gain some closure.

“She can now know that he will never be able to get out and do this again to anyone else.” Humphrey said.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigations has since taken over the case with Special Agent Dustin Peak investigating the moments that led to Martinez’s death.