Man to be charged in connection with custody death

News Release, April 30, 2023

Authorities are charging a Lawrence man with supplying drugs to another person in police custody before that person died in their shared cell, Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker and Lawrence Police Head of Department Michael McCarthy announced Sunday.

Javier Garcia, 49, of 57 Brook St., Apt. 2, had been in custody himself at the Lawrence Police Department headquarters after being arrested this weekend for disorderly conduct.

Garcia will now face an additional charge of Distribution of a Class A Substance. He will be arraigned in Lawrence District Court as early as Monday morning.

Garcia was charged as authorities continue to investigate the death of Christian Marte-Martinez, 25, of 45 Fern St., Lawrence. He died early Saturday while in custody for disorderly conduct and malicious destruction of property.

Marte-Martinez was placed into a cell at police headquarters at 1:15 a.m. Saturday. Garcia was being held in the same cell.

About 5 a.m. Saturday, police discovered Marte-Martinez unresponsive. They began CPR and other life-saving measures before he was transported to Lawrence General Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.

The incident remains under investigation by the Essex County District Attorney’s Office State Police Detective Unit and detectives from the Lawrence Police Department.