Jury convicts Albert Jones Jr. in 2016 murder-for-hire plot.

On November 18, 2021, a jury convicted defendant Albert Jones Jr. of the first-degree murder of Alexander Jacob Martinez, 27, in a murder-for-hire plot. The jury also found true the special circumstance that Jones committed the murder for financial gain.

On April 10, 2016, Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a music studio on Lake Chabot Road in Castro Valley after a report of a shooting. When deputies arrived, they found Mr. Martinez lying on the ground of the parking lot, suffering from a single gunshot wound to the side of his head. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. A witness to the shooting testified that an unknown gunman approached Mr. Martinez, ordered him face down on the ground, shot him, and then fled.

Detectives from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office discovered Jones took out life insurance policies in Mr. Martinez’ name over the five months leading up to the shooting. A search of Jones’ home revealed five different policies totaling $1.35 million and prepaid credit cards in the victim’s name.

In an interview with detectives almost a year after the murder, the defendant admitted to opening the insurance policies, secretly installing a GPS tracking device on the victim’s car, paying a man an undisclosed amount of money to shoot the victim, as well as his unsuccessful attempts to try to collect the insurance money. He explained that the two had been friends, but was angry with Mr. Martinez over a rent dispute and wanted revenge. After the interview, detectives seized the GPS tracking unit from underneath the victim’s car. When the victim was shot and killed, he was inches away from his car and the tracking unit.

Jones is expected to be sentenced on January 7th, 2022 and faces life in prison.

DDA Jason Quinn prosecuted the case, with aid from DA Inspector Jim Morris and Victim Witness Lindsey Reynolds.