Defense attorneys for Larry Millete say his previous representation wasn’t just inadequate, it was criminal. That was part of a lengthy motion filed in a successful effort to get his murder trial pushed back to July 7, 2025.
Millete has been behind bars since October of 2021, facing a murder charge in the disappearance of his 39-year-old wife Maya. She hasn’t been seen since January of that year. Millete has pleaded not guilty.
The case has experienced numerous delays, most recently due to a change in Millete’s defense team. Previously, he was represented by private attorney Bonita Martinez. A judge granted her request to leave the case in October of 2023. Millete is now represented by Liann Sabatini and Colby Ryan of the Virtus Law Group.
Sabatini had previously asked the court for the trial to be delayed, citing the large amount of discovery evidence her team would need to review. On Tuesday, that argument for more time included a slew of accusations against Martinez.
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Claims of ineffective counsel
Sabatini’s filing states that from the very beginning of her work, Martinez deprived Millete of his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel. Court documents claim she never showed Millete all the discovery evidence in the case and only visited him in jail when she needed him to sign paperwork.
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In California, attorneys are required to get a signed retainer agreement from clients if services exceed $1,000. Sabatini’s filing says Martinez took payments of $5,000 and $10,000 from Millete prior to his arrest without any agreement. Moreover, Sabatini accuses Martinez of never disclosing how much the entire criminal case would cost Millete, and instead asked for money repeatedly over the course of two years.
The court filing states that Millete was concerned about Martinez’s access to his finances and asked his parents not to connect Martinez with over $200,000 in cryptocurrency investments and $40,000 in precious metal and coin collections.
The documents say Martinez persuaded Millete’s parents to give her access to his finances. That included purchasing an iPhone and iPad connected to his mobile account, giving her security authentication to his financial accounts and those cryptocurrency investments.
Sabatani says it’s common in the Filipino community to respect and trust people in positions of authority. She says the Milletes were too deferential to Martinez, who, “...took advantage of that deference, respect, and esteem she was held in by the Milletes and [misled], pressured and defrauded this family to the tune of almost $250,000.”
When asked why she needed so much cash, Millete’s new lawyers say Martinez told him she needed to make out-of-state and international trips to track down witnesses, something his current team says they can’t find evidence to support. In fact, they say there’s no evidence Martinez needed any of that money for Millete's case, writing, “there is absolutely no work product to substantiate her claims that this defense was so expensive.”
Sabatini says her firm reported these claims to the State Bar of California, which regulates licenses to practice law. However, she says that agency told her to contact law enforcement because it cannot take action until any outcome of that type of prosecution. The documents say no report has been made to law enforcement yet, but attorneys intend to in the future.
Martinez denies the allegations
NBC 7 Investigates spoke with Bonita Martinez over the phone. She said she wasn’t aware of the accusations against her. When we read them to her, she denied committing any fraud or theft, saying she did not deceive anyone. She told us she welcomes a police investigation, saying she wishes Milletes’s new lawyers would focus on his defense instead of her, adding that she still prays for her former client.
Prosecutors accused Larry Millete of continuing to violate court order
Prosecutors also revealed new information within their own filing, in an attempt to prevent any further trial delays. Deputy district attorneys are accusing Millete’s current defense attorneys, the Virtus Law Group, of helping Millete violate a court order not to contact his children.
Since his arrest, several judges have imposed and reaffirmed orders that Millete not contact his children over the phone, email, through video calls or be allowed to have in-person visits. Several judges have admonished Millete for violating those orders.
Prosecutors say his new legal team has been helping to pass messages between Millete and his children since April. Documents state that included playing him a video of his children sending him a message about Easter.
Deputy district attorneys also say Millete was recorded during an August jail visit with his parents talking about how he left messages for his attorney to be relayed to his children.
“Tell them I cried too, that I feel what they're going through," the documents state Millete said. "Please tell them I feel their sadness three times over because it's for each of them."
NBC 7 Investigates reached out to his current attorney Sabatini, who called the allegations “absurd” saying they “definitely didn’t violate the orders.”
