PHOENIX — EDITOR'S NOTE: The above video is from March detailing the complaint filed by the State Bar against Juan Martinez.
PHOENIX - Jodi Arias prosecutor Juan Martinez faces what amounts to a public trial next week over allegations of sexual misconduct with an Arias trial blogger and sexual harassment of female co-workers.
Martinez is scheduled to go before a disciplinary hearing panel Aug. 27 through 29, with about a dozen witnesses expected to testify.
The trial blogger, Jen Wood, is among the scheduled witnesses. According to an email from her attorney filed with the court, Wood has provided screen shots of text messages between her and Martinez that are "reciprocally sexual and personal in nature."
The presiding disciplinary judge has approved a request by attorneys for Martinez and the State Bar of Arizona, which is the prosecutor at the hearing, to keep the text messages sealed from public view.
Judge William O'Neill heard arguments Thursday from a lawyer for several media organizations, including 12 News, to allow a video camera at the hearing.
The lawyer for the State Bar has asked the judge to bar all media coverage of the hearing.
O'Neill has already signed off on sealing the testimony and identities of most witnesses. His ruling on the media organizations' request is pending.
The August disciplinary hearing follows up on an ethics complaint filed in March by the State Bar of Arizona, which regulates the state's legal profession.
If the complaint is upheld, Martinez could face a range of disciplinary actions, including losing his law license.
The ethics complaint accuses Martinez of lying repeatedly to investigators. It covers Martinez's behavior during the Arias murder trial, a sensational case that transformed the deputy Maricopa County prosecutor into an international celebrity.
Arias was charged with the gruesome murder of her ex-boyfriend and is currently serving a life sentence. She was spared the death penalty by one holdout juror.
The complaint also describes Martinez's alleged behavior at the county attorney's office, where several female employees compiled a "JM sh*t list" of his sexually predatory conduct. Female employees said they would avoid Martinez in the office by hiding in a bathroom or ducking into a cubicle.
Here are the key allegations against Martinez:
Sexual relationship with blogger
The complaint says Martinez denied engaging in a sexual relationship with trial blogger Jen Wood, who was part of a tandem known as the "Trial Divas."
"The testimony was false, and respondent knew it was false," the complaint says, one of several times Martinez is called out for lying with that same declaration.
"The relationship continued through the second penalty phase of the Arias case and for several years thereafter," the complaint says.
Disclosing Juror 17's identity
Juror 17 was the holdout juror who stood in the way of Martinez persuading the Arias jury to put her to death.
After the judge rejected Martinez's motion to dismiss Juror 17, Martinez "provided Juror 17's name to Ms. Wood who then looked up Juror 17's Facebook page. Respondent told Ms. Wood that if anyone found out that he had provided her with this information, he would be disbarred," according to the complaint.
Arizona law prohibits the public release of jurors' names.
But Martinez denied to investigators that he had given Wood any information about Juror 17.
"The testimony was false, and respondent knew it was false," the complaint says.
Juror 17 became the target of hate mail and death threats after her identity was made public on social media.
The ethics complaint says investigators were not able to prove Wood was the person who leaked it. Investigators did say she shared the information with one other person covering the trial.
Talking to dismissed Juror 3
When Juror 3 was dismissed, the ethics complaint says, the Arias trial judge asked her not to disclose anything about the proceedings to anyone. Yet she contacted Martinez, after getting his cellphone number from Wood.
She was interested in a sexual relationship - "sexting unsolicited nude photographs of herself" - and offered her thoughts on jurors' appearances, a "read" on how jurors might be leaning and invitations to lunch or dinner.
Martinez said, "I could (get into trouble), just by the way it looks."
But he went ahead and asked Juror 3 questions to determine how jurors "might view evidence or aspects of the case."
The complaint says Martinez's testimony about their communication "was false, and he knew it was false."
Sexual harassment of co-workers
The complaint alleges that female staffers in the Maricopa County Attorney's Office compiled a "JM sh*t list" of his sexually predatory conduct.
This part of the complaint is based on an internal investigation by MCAO that included interviews with 30 employees.
They alleged Martinez made "inappropriate comments of a sexual nature" - he told one clerk he could "guess the color of (her) underwear" and another "he wanted to climb her like a statue."
Female employees also said Martinez engaged in unwanted touching and made unwelcome invitations to lunch or a date.
The investigation found law clerks would hide from Martinez in bathrooms or duck into cubicles.
Martinez's boss, County Attorney Bill Montgomery, issued only a reprimand for Martinez's behavior.
Martinez attorney responds
The possible outcomes for the Martinez ethics complaint range from dismissal to disbarment. Both parties would have the right to appeal.
The current ethics complaint is based largely on a complaint first filed two years ago on Arias' behalf by attorney Karen Clark.
The State Bar dismissed the first complaint, but was ordered last March to reinstate it after Clark provided more information.
Martinez attorney Donald WIlson Jr., a specialist in ethics cases, said he wasn't sure the case could be settled before the August hearing.
"Not unless the State Bar offers to dismiss all charges," Wilson said in an interview. "We've already had an unsuccessful settlement conference."
"The hearing will give Mr. Martinez a fair opportunity to present his side of the case and we look forward to the opportunity."
Wilson said his witnesses would include some members of the Maricopa County Attorney's Office staff, and possibly some medical people testifying about Martinez.
Read the complaint here: