Lubbock man sentenced 45 years for 2019 murder

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A Lubbock man has pleaded guilty to the murder of 27-year-old Luis Martinez and has been sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Police say the shooting death of Martinez happened in the area of 37th and Ave. P.

Ivain Ray Jimenez, 31, was a passenger in a vehicle with Martinez. A witness told investigators Martinez got out of the vehicle and said he just had been shot. Jimenez was seen getting out of the passenger side of the vehicle, getting into the driver’s side and driving off.

Jimenez’s girlfriend, Melinda Rodriguez, was in the vehicle at the time of the shooting. She told detectives she placed the murder weapon in a dumpster near 4th Street and Toledo Ave. when Jimenez was arrested. She said she took the gun from under the seat of the vehicle. She said she and Jimenez slept in the vehicle the night after the murder.

Jimenez was booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center on May 26, 2019, and has served 1,223 days as of this report.

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