On October 22nd, the night she died, 16 year old Alicia Martinez went to a party at friend Edward “Tim” Romero’s (27) house. The day after the murder Romero offered his victims mother help passing out fliers to find her missing daughter.

After his arrest, Romero pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charges on Monday by reason of insanity. But the act has convinced Martinez that his plea is all a ruse. Even police believe that as he made is offer to help, Romero was fully aware that Alicia was dead.

Regardless, Romero was ordered to undergo psychological evaluation. Anything discussed in the psychological evaluation can be used against him. Denver defense attorneys must now prove that he was insane at the time the murder was committed and juries are sometimes hard to convince if there is no documentation of illness. But this is not the first time Romero’s mental health has been in question.

In 2007, Romero showed up at a girlfriend’s house with a gun and threatened her and her family. For this incident, Romero was ordered to stay on medication, seek counseling and continue sex-offender treatment as conditions of his probation.

As a former Assistant U.S Attorney, I have had experience in many cases like these. These are very serious charges and if you are accused of a federal crime, you will need a very good attorney experienced in federal criminal charges. As an Assistant District Attorney, I tried over 70 criminal jury trials, ranging from murder, armed robbery, sexual assaults of adults and children and kidnapping, to DUI, assault and simple drug possession.