photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured in March of 2022. The center houses the Douglas County District Court and other county services.

A judge denied a motion to increase the amount and to modify the bond conditions of a teenager who is being charged as an adult with attempted murder.

Eduardo Martinez-Diaz, 16, of Lawrence, is currently out of jail on a $75,000 own-recognizance bond, facing two counts of attempted first-degree murder in connection with the shooting of Caylee M. Nehrbass, who was in a car with Javier I. Romero, 19, on May 27, 2021.

Martinez-Diaz was 15 at the time of the shooting and was charged in June of 2021, alongside his older brother, Alejandro Martinez-Diaz, 19, and Ontareo X. Jackson, 19, according to court records.

Judge Blake Glover denied a motion filed by Senior Assistant District Attorney Seth Brackman to increase the bond to $250,000 or to modify the bond from an own-recognizance bond to a cash or surety bond.

The motion came after Martinez-Diaz was waived from juvenile status to an adult on the charges by Judge Kay Huff in June. Witnesses testified that he was the driver of the vehicle and fired a handgun during the incident.

“An own-recognizance bond is inappropriate for anyone facing first-degree attempted murder,” Brackman said.

As a juvenile, Martinez-Diaz faced at most six years in jail if convicted on the charges, but now that he is being tried as an adult he faces a minimum of 26 years, and the bond should reflect the severity of the crime and the potential punishment, Brackman said.

“Witnesses put him in the car and 18 shell casings were found at the scene. Caylee Nehrbass was shot in the head twice,” Brackman said.

Martinez-Diaz’s defense attorney, Hatem Chahine, said that it didn’t make any sense to increase or modify the bond conditions and that Martinez-Diaz has been on intensive supervision, including GPS monitoring, by court services since he was charged, and he has complied with every condition and has appeared at every hearing and shows no signs that he will not appear for court.

Martinez-Diaz has been charged on suspicion of one additional crime since his arrest on suspicion of witness intimidation. Chahine said the charge was “a fictitious crime” created by the state because the witness he is alleged to have intimidated was not named as a witness in Martinez-Diaz’s charging documents and there was no order for him not to talk to the witness.

Brackman raised a legal question during the hearing that the judge could not immediately answer. Brackman said that defendants are ordered not to speak to any witnesses connected to a case when they are charged but he could find no Kansas statute that says those witnesses need to be listed in the charging document or endorsed by the state. Glover said he was not aware of a statute that specified that either.

Chahine has filed a motion to dismiss the witness intimidation charge and is scheduled to argue the motion on Sept. 14.

Glover denied the motion to modify the bond and said he did so due to Martinez-Diaz’s compliance with his intensive bond supervision and the lack of any additional convictions or crimes since his arrest 13 month ago.

“Bond is not meant to be used as a means of oppression,” Glover said.

Martinez-Diaz’s brother, Alejandro, is currently waiting for the results of an appeal in his case for two counts of attempted first-degree murder after Romero refused to testify on the first day of the trial in April. He is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 29 to face charges for felony intent to distribute prescription drugs and marijuana and with possession of a firearm. He is currently being held on a $250,000 bond for those charges.

Jackson was sentenced to 59 months in prison after pleading no contest to attempted second-degree murder in the case.

Both Jackson and Alejandro were given $75,000 cash or surety bonds when they were initially arrested for the charges.

Eduardo Martinez-Diaz’s next court date had not yet been set as of Friday afternoon.