BEATRICE – A man already serving time in custody in Lancaster County for drug possession will also serve a prison term from Gage County.
Thursday, Mario Martinez had a Gage County probation term revoked and was sentenced to 2-to-5 years in state prison on the original charge of attempted distribution of a controlled substance.


Gage County District Court Judge Rick Schreiner said Martinez had been through about half his Gage County probation but wasn’t meeting any of its requirements.


"You were still smoking marijuana as of March, 2021 a year after I placed you on probation. You were removed from self-control groups after having too many absences...didn't return officers phone calls...report for drug testing...you told the probation officers because you knew you'd be sanctioned for using marijuana. You began to use CBD without permission and admitted to feeling the effects of marijuana. You received administrative sanctions, and those sanctions are meant to be kind of a warning...stop doing this. You didn't."


Martinez spoke to the judge, taking responsibility for his actions. "I don't want to make any excuses, because at the end of the day, they were my choices. I made those choices and I'm going to stand behind them. I regret a lot of it..and I'm ashamed of who I was. I promise myself that whatever happens today, I'm going to be great, one way or another."


Schreiner said Martinez could have received up to 20 years in prison, but the judge took into account the defendant’s age and a difficult upbringing. That included the incarceration and deportation to Mexico of his father when Martinez was age 10…and later his father being found dead on a Texas ranch.
Martinez received credit for 26 days spent in custody.


The probation term of a defendant has been revoked, which was previously handed down in Gage County District Court for possession of a deadly weapon.
Chance Corliss was resentenced Thursday to a 3-to-4-year prison term, along with a 2-year term of post-release supervision.  On more recent convictions of aiding a felony and failure to appear on a felony, Corliss received 18 months in prison.  The sentences in both cases will be served at the same time.


A three-year prison term has been given to a 31-year-old man convicted in Gage County of attempted possession of a deadly weapon by a felon and operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest.  Marquel Callahan’s sentence announced in district court includes a 12-month term of post-release supervision. His sentence will begin after he finishes serving a sentence from Lancaster County.


Judge Rick Schreiner noted Callahan’s first crime was committed at age 16, and he’s been involved in multiple cases since then.  "Every year since you turned 16, you've had multiple cases in multiple counties...essentially every place that you've been. Here....you accelerated once you discovered law enforcement was behind you, trying to pull you over. They finally caught up with you, and you told them the reason that you ran was because you knew you were going to jail because you did not have a license...which was kind of silly, now turning it into a felony. You continued down residential streets during that pursuit...speeds of between 50 and 60 miles-per-hour...you placed the citizens of this county in danger."


The weapon found in the car Callahan was driving was a knife. The other past criminal cases Callahan was involved in happened in Madison, Pierce, Dodge, Butler and Lancaster Counties.