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Springfield man sentenced to life without parole for 2023 fatal shooting

Hiram Martinez, 41, was convicted of first-degree murder in the June 2023 shooting that killed James Brown and wounded a second man on School Street, the Hampden district attorney's office said.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Springfield man has been sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility of parole for a June 2023 shooting in Springfield that killed one man and wounded another, the Hampden district attorney's office said Thursday.

Hiram Martinez, 41, of Springfield, was sentenced Nov. 2, prosecutors said. A Hampden County jury found him guilty of first-degree murder on Oct. 2 after a trial in the death of James Brown, 34, of Springfield.

At Martinez's request, the court put his sentence on hold until Dec. 3, prosecutors said. He will remain at the Franklin County House of Correction until then and will then be moved to state prison. Prosecutors objected to the delay.

According to the district attorney's office, Springfield police were called to a shooting on School Street on the night of June 24, 2023, and found that Brown and Bruce Bodiford had been shot. Both men were taken to Baystate Medical Center, where Brown died.

Springfield police detectives found surveillance footage that showed Martinez following the two men through the neighborhood in the minutes before the shooting, prosecutors said. Investigators tracked his movements across several surveillance cameras and identified him through that footage, vehicle registration records and a purchase he made at a nearby store before the shooting, the office said.

A later search of a Toyota Camry connected to Martinez turned up several pieces of clothing that matched what the shooter was seen wearing in the footage, prosecutors said.

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