Victor Martinez-Hernandez walked in shackles as six officers were positioned throughout the courtroom in Harford County.

A native of El Salvador, the 24-year-old defendant was also using earbuds for simultaneous interpretation during a hearing on Monday as he heads to trial in the death of Rachel Morin.

Martinez-Hernandez is charged in Harford County Circuit Court with first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree rape, a third-degree sex offense and kidnapping. Jury selection is set for Tuesday.

Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, was found dead on Aug. 6, 2023, just a day after she went missing while on a jog on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail. Since her death Morin’s mother, Patty, appeared on stage with President Donald Trump at rallies, while other members of the Morin family recorded ads for the Trump campaign and took the stage during the Republican National Convention.

His Martinez-Hernandez’s attorneys, Assistant Public Defenders Marcus Jenkins, Sawyer Hicks and Tara LeCompte, spoke of the “tremendous publicity” in the case, which has yielded national attention and became part of immigration debates.

Jenkins asked Circuit Court Judge Yolanda L. Curtin for a sequestered jury in which jurors would give up all electronic devices and be cut off from society for the remainder of the trial.

He said it’s the “only remedy” to prevent the jury from accessing information that doesn’t come from the courtroom, adding that while this would be a “serious” measure, Martinez-Hernandez’s constitutional right trumps jury’s “inconvenience.”

But Curtin denied the request, calling it an “extreme measure.”

Alison Healey, Harford County State’s Attorney, said a sequestered jury is an “almost impossible task in 2025.”

Attorneys had also asked that potential jurors filled out a questionnaire prior to jury selection.

Curtin said she had already denied this request and thought it was unnecessary.

Attorneys reviewed more than 50 questions to pose to potential jurors, including whether they heard about the case through the Republican National Convention, whether they have used the Ma & Pa Trail or donated to online fundraising for Morin’s family.

Healey scrutinized many of the proposed questions, calling them either too specific or too broad.

Healey and LeCompte also asked the judge to order Randolph Rice, who represents some of Morin’s family members, to stop giving interviews to the media.

Standing in front of the courthouse Monday morning, Rice told reporters he has “no doubt” there can be a fair and impartial trial, even with all the media coverage.

He sat in the courtroom with Patty Morin. She is aware she is about to see some “really tough” images of her daughter and learn “some really bad facts” about what happened, Rice said.

“But, you know, she said something today that was interesting,” he said. “‘God is with her.‘”

Rice said she thinks everything happens for a reason, and that she thinks she “just has to accept that’s just how this is going to work out.”

Curtin said she will be calling potential jurors starting Tuesday and through Thursday, and that opening statements are expected to begin Friday.

The town of Bel Air is bracing for an influx of media to cover the case, which has generated national attention and become a political flashpoint as Martinez-Hernandez, an El Salvador native, was living illegally in the country.

The Bel Air Police Department announced last week that several streets around the Harford County Circuit Courthouse would be closed beginning Monday due to “increasing security and safety during a court trial in a high profile criminal case.”