Jose Franco-Martinez sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for fatally stabbing ex-girlfriend Maria Larin at Belmont racetrack, Nassau DA says

An Elmont man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the June 2018 fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend at Belmont Park racetrack.

Acting Nassau Supreme Court Justice Helene Gugerty sentenced Jose Franco-Martinez, 58, to the maximum following his April 4 conviction of second-degree murder in the killing of Maria Larin, the Nassau County District Attorney's office said in a news release Wednesday. 

“Enraged by the thought of his ex-girlfriend seeing another man, this defendant drove halfway across the country to murder her at Belmont racetrack where she worked,” said District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “Franco-Martinez brutally stabbed and slashed Maria Larin more than 20 times before he was restrained by staff at the racetrack. We continue to keep the Larin family in our thoughts as this defendant is brought to justice for his horrific crime.”

Maria Larin was working on June 17, 2018, as a "hot walker," helping horses cool down after racing, inside the stall area of Barn 61 at Belmont Park, when Franco-Martinez stabbed her "multiple times all over her body with a silver kitchen knife," Nassau prosecutors said. Larin’s co-worker, who witnessed the stabbing, hit Franco-Martinez in the head with a shovel before he ran away, prosecutors said.

Following a brief chase during which Franco-Martinez threw the knife into bushes, security staff from the New York Racing Association apprehended him, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said that Franco-Martinez, who previously worked as a hot walker at Belmont, become angry with Larin after she ended their romantic relationship. Two days before the killing, prosecutors said, he paid an acquaintance to drive him from Kansas, where he was working, to New York to kill Larin, prosecutors said. 

Franco-Martinez's attorney, Joseph Lo Piccolo, said in a statement: "Our position is still that our client was suffering from being in a state of depression and other psychological issues before, during and after this incident and that was backed up by his hospitalization in a mental ward after this incident. We believe the jury was mistaken in not accepting the extreme emotional disturbance defense. However, there is still sincere sorrow for the death caused by Mr. Franco-Martinez." 

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.