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{{short description|American naturism activist}}
{{about|the nudist and activist|the Mexican-American drummer|Andy DeMize}}
{{about|the nudist and activist|the Mexican-American drummer|Andy DeMize}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2021}}
⚫
{{Infobox Person
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2021}}
⚫
|name = Luis Andrew Martinez

⚫
|image = Sunning.jpg
⚫
{{Infobox person
|caption = Andrew Martinez reading the paper in a park in [[Berkeley, California]] with a jar labeled "Donations for the Revolution".
⚫
| name = Andrew Martinez
⚫
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1972|11|15}}
⚫
| image = Andrew martinez.jpg
⚫
|birth_place = [[Santa Clara County, California]]
| caption = Andrew Martinez being arrested in [[Berkeley, California]]
⚫
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2006|05|18|1972|11|15}}
⚫
| birth_name = Luis Andrew Martinez
⚫
|death_place = [[Santa Clara County, California]]
⚫
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1972|11|15}}
⚫
|other_names =
⚫
| birth_place = [[Santa Clara County, California]]
⚫
|known_for = Public nudity and nudity activism
⚫
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2006|05|18|1972|11|15}}
⚫
|occupation =
| death_place = [[San Jose, California]]
⚫
|nationality = American
| death_cause = Suicide
⚫
| other_names = Naked Guy
⚫
| known_for = Public nudity and nudity activism
⚫
| occupation = Activist
⚫
| nationality = American
}}
}}


'''Luis Andrew Martinez''' commonly known as '''Andrew Martinez''', was an [[activist]] who achieved fame at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], where he was known as '''the Naked Guy'''.<ref>Record of Luis A. Martinez. Ancestry.com. ''California Birth Index, 1905-1995'' [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.</ref>
'''Luis Andrew Martinez''' (November 15, 1972 – May 18, 2006) was an [[activist]] who was known at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] as '''the Naked Guy'''.<ref>Record of Luis A. Martinez. Ancestry.com. ''California Birth Index, 1905–1995'' [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.</ref>


==Early fame==
==Early attention==
Martinez was a [[high school]] [[American football|football]] player when he attended [[Monta Vista High School]] in [[Cupertino, California|Cupertino]], [[California]].<ref name=bnet>{{cite news |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_/ai_n16845600 |title=Friends recall 'Naked Guy' for strong belief in freedom Family |publisher=''[[The Oakland Tribune]]'' |author=Goldston, Linda |date=November 22, 2006 |accessdate=2009-01-03}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>
Martinez was a [[high school]] [[American football|football]] player when he attended [[Monta Vista High School]] in [[Cupertino, California|Cupertino]], [[California]].<ref name=bnet>{{cite news |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_/ai_n16845600 |title=Friends recall 'Naked Guy' for strong belief in freedom Family |newspaper=[[The Oakland Tribune]] |author=Goldston, Linda |date=November 22, 2006 |accessdate=2009-01-03}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>


Martinez attended classes at [[University of California, Berkeley]]. In September 1992, his [[wiktionary:sophomore|second]] year in college, he began appearing naked in public and led a campus "nude-in" to protest social repression. Campus police first arrested him that fall for indecent exposure when he jogged naked near [[Southside, Berkeley, California|southside]] [[dormitory|dormitories]] late on a Saturday night. The county prosecutor refused to prosecute, concluding that nudity without [[lewd]] behavior was not illegal. The university then banned nudity on campus. Martinez began strolling around campus naked, citing philosophical reasons. He explained that when he dressed in expensive, uncomfortable, stylish, "appropriate" attire, he hid the fact that his personal belief was that clothes were useless in his environment except as a tool for class and gender differentiation.
Martinez attended classes at the University of California, Berkeley. In September 1992, his second year in college, he began appearing unclad in public and led a campus "nude-in" to protest social repression. Campus police first arrested him that fall for indecent exposure when he jogged unclothed near [[Southside, Berkeley, California|southside]] [[dormitory|dormitories]] late on a Saturday night. The county prosecutor refused to prosecute, concluding that nudity without [[lewd]] behavior was not illegal in California.


Martinez began strolling around campus unclothed, citing philosophical reasons. He explained that when he dressed in expensive, uncomfortable, stylish, "appropriate" attire, he hid the fact that his personal belief was that clothes were useless in his environment except as a tool for class and gender differentiation. The university then banned nudity on campus.
⚫
Martinez wrote a 1992 guest column in ''[[The Oakland Tribune]]'': "When I walk around nude, I am acting how I think it is reasonable to act, not how [[middle-class]] values tell me I should act. I am refusing to hide my dissent in normalcy even though it is very easy to do so." Martinez, who typically attended classes wearing only [[Sandal (footwear)|sandal]]s and a [[backpack]], became a ''cause célèbre'' at the university for a while, sparking a number of nude-ins on campus and performances by the Bay Area [[nudist]] group the X-Plicit Players. He appeared on national talk shows, was profiled in a photo essay in ''[[Playgirl]]'' and was parodied in the [[1994 in film|1994]] college comedy ''[[PCU (film) |PCU]]''. Inspired in part by Martinez' actions, UC Berkeley issued its "Policy Statement Concerning Public Nudity and Sexually Offensive Conduct" banning public nudity on December 7, 1992.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2005/09/29_briefs.shtml |title=For the record |publisher=[[University of California, Berkeley]] |date=September 29, 2005 |accessdate=2009-01-03}}</ref>


⚫
Martinez wrote a 1992 guest column in the ''[[The Oakland Tribune|Oakland Tribune]]'': "When I walk around nude, I am acting how I think it is reasonable to act, not how middle-class values tell me I should act. I am refusing to hide my dissent in normalcy even though it is very easy to do so." Martinez, who typically attended classes wearing only sandals and a backpack, became a ''cause célèbre'' at the university for a while, participating in a number of nude events on campus and performances by the Bay Area nude performance group the X-Plicit Players.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 29, 2005 |title=UC Berkeley News, For the record |url=https://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2005/09/29_briefs.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031125715/https://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2005/09/29_briefs.shtml |archive-date=2019-10-31 |access-date=2021-11-07 |publisher=[[University of California, Berkeley]]}}</ref>
⚫
Then neither employed nor furthering his education, Martinez continued living in [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]], and was arrested for public nudity by the city. He fought those charges and won. For many months, it was legal to walk around nude in Berkeley and he went further, attending a City Council meeting naked. The city adopted an anti-nudity ordinance in July 1993.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/03/30/MN100455.DTL |publisher=''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' |title=BAY AREA FOCUS -- NAKED REBELLION - It's all about free speech, Berkeley nudists insist |date=March 30, 1998 |accessdate=2009-01-03 | first=Charles | last=Burress}}</ref> Martinez and some of his supporters then showed up at a City Hall meeting in the buff and he became the first person arrested under the new city ordinance.<ref name=lat>{{cite news |url=http://articles.latimes.com/2006/may/21/local/me-naked21 |title=UC Berkeley’s `Naked Guy’ Dies in His Jail Cell |publisher=''[[The Los Angeles Times]]'' |date=May 21, 2006 |accessdate=2009-01-03}}</ref> He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge and got two years’ probation.

He appeared on national talk shows, was profiled in a photo essay in ''[[Playgirl]]'' and was parodied in the [[1994 in film|1994]] college comedy ''[[PCU (film)|PCU]]''. As a response to Martinez's actions, UC Berkeley issued its "Policy Statement Concerning Public Nudity and Sexually Offensive Conduct" banning public nudity on December 7, 1992.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 29, 2005 |title=UC Berkeley News, For the record |url=https://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2005/09/29_briefs.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031125715/https://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2005/09/29_briefs.shtml |archive-date=2019-10-31 |access-date=2021-11-07 |publisher=[[University of California, Berkeley]]}}</ref>

⚫
Then neither employed nor furthering his education, Martinez continued living in [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]], and was arrested for public nudity by the city police. He fought those charges and won. It remained legal to walk around nude in Berkeley and he went further, attending a Berkeley city council meeting in the nude. The city adopted an anti-nudity ordinance in July 1993.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Burress |first=Charles |date=March 30, 1998 |title=BAY AREA FOCUS – NAKED REBELLION – It's all about free speech, Berkeley nudists insist |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BAY-AREA-FOCUS-NAKED-REBELLION-It-s-all-3010423.php |url-status=live |access-date=2021-11-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010024744/https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BAY-AREA-FOCUS-NAKED-REBELLION-It-s-all-3010423.php |archive-date=2019-10-10}}</ref> Martinez and some of his supporters then attended another city council meeting naked and he became the first person arrested under the new city ordinance.<ref name="lat">{{Cite news |date=May 21, 2006 |title=UC Berkeley’s `Naked Guy’ Dies in His Jail Cell |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-may-21-me-naked21-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221025040/http://articles.latimes.com/2006/may/21/local/me-naked21 |archive-date=2008-12-21 |access-date=2009-01-03}}</ref> He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge and got two years probation.


==Later life==
==Later life==
After his legal matters were settled, Martinez traveled to Europe, studied [[judo]], and began to write a manuscript about his experiences. After his return and continued unemployment, he began to manifest symptoms of [[mental illness]] and he spent much of the decade following his national fame moving among [[halfway house]]s, psychiatric institutions, occasional [[homelessness]], and jail, but never getting comprehensive treatment, his family said. Martinez showed signs of schizophrenia and was prescribed medication, but with little improvement. "It was an endless cycle of trying to get answers but never getting any," said his mother. "It was endless, endless, endless."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/21/NAKEDGUY.TMP|publisher=''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' |title=Champion of nudity found dead in jail cell -'Naked Guy' won fame in Berkeley, challenged values |date=May 21, 2006 | first=Carolyn | last=Jones}}</ref>
Martinez began wearing clothes again and began to write a manuscript about his experiences.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Martinez |first=Andrew |date=1993-09-21 |title=Militant Nudist Revolution! Andrew Martinez, 1993 |url=http://www.xplicitplayers.com/MartinezManifesto/index.html |access-date=2021-11-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217114959/http://www.xplicitplayers.com/MartinezManifesto/index.html |archive-date=2020-02-17}}</ref> He traveled to [[Europe]] and studied [[judo]]. After his return to the [[United States]] and continued unemployment, he began to manifest symptoms of [[mental illness]] and he spent much of the decade following his period of national attention moving among [[halfway house]]s, psychiatric institutions, occasional [[homelessness]], and jail, but never getting comprehensive treatment, his family said.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Carolyn |date=May 21, 2006 |title=Champion of nudity found dead in jail cell -'Naked Guy' won fame in Berkeley, challenged values |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/21/NAKEDGUY.TMP |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060711171648/http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/21/NAKEDGUY.TMP |archive-date=2006-07-11}}</ref>


Martinez showed signs of [[schizophrenia]] and was prescribed medication, but with little improvement. "It was an endless cycle of trying to get answers but never getting any," said his mother. "It was endless, endless, endless."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Carolyn |date=May 21, 2006 |title=Champion of nudity found dead in jail cell -'Naked Guy' won fame in Berkeley, challenged values |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/21/NAKEDGUY.TMP |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060711171648/http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/21/NAKEDGUY.TMP |archive-date=2006-07-11}}</ref>
⚫
On January 10, 2006, Martinez was arrested after a fight at a halfway house and charged with two counts of [[Battery (crime)|battery]] and one count of [[assault]] with a deadly weapon. He was placed in maximum-security custody in [[Santa Clara County, California|Santa Clara County]] Jail in San Jose.<ref name=lat />


⚫
On January 10, 2006, Martinez was arrested after a fight at a halfway house and charged with two counts of [[Battery (crime)|battery]] and one count of [[assault]] with a deadly weapon. He was placed in maximum-security custody in [[Santa Clara County, California|Santa Clara County]] Jail in [[San Jose, California]].<ref name=lat />
The last time Martinez's mother saw her son was three weeks before his death when she visited him in jail. "He was sad. He was tired. He said he had enough", she said. "I alerted everyone, but nothing happened". On the evening of his death a guard checked on him at 11 p.m. and he was fine, but a few minutes later other inmates reported hearing sounds coming from his cell. An officer returned at 11:19 and found Martinez unconscious. The 33-year-old Martinez was found with a plastic bag cinched around his head. He was taken to Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead of apparent [[suicide]] on May 18, 2006. Martinez's funeral was held May 25. A memorial for him was held May 27 at [[People's Park (Berkeley)|People's Park]], in Berkeley.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2006-05-26/article/24234?headline=Friends-Remember-Andrew-Martinez |title=Friends Remember Andrew Martinez |publisher=''[[Berkeley Daily Planet]]'' |author=Bhattacharjee, Riya |date=May 26, 2006 |accessdate=2009-01-03}}</ref> On November 12 of that year, a public memorial was held at a community recreation center in Cupertino.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nwzchik/detail?blogid=32&entry_id=10363|title="Naked guy" to be remembered at memorial |publisher=''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' |author=Lagos, Marisa |date=October 30, 2006 |accessdate=2009-01-09}}</ref>


==Death==
⚫
In 2009, his mother Esther Krenn settled a wrongful death lawsuit against Santa Clara County, which paid her $1 million and altered its policies so that family members would be notified in the event of a suicide attempt.<ref>{{cite news | title = How Berkeley's 'Naked Guy' met a tragic end | author = Chip Johnson | date = 2009-05-19 | publisher = [[San Francisco Chronicle]] | accessdate = 2009-05-19 }}</ref>
The last time Martinez was seen alive by his mother was three weeks before his death when she had visited him in jail. She recounted, "He was sad. He was tired. He said he had enough. I alerted everyone, but nothing happened." On the evening of his death, a guard checked on him at 11 p.m. and he was fine, but a few minutes later other inmates reported hearing sounds coming from his cell. An officer returned at 11:19 and found Martinez unconscious.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bhattacharjee |first=Riya |date=May 26, 2006 |title=Friends Remember Andrew Martinez |work=[[Berkeley Daily Planet]] |url=http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2006-05-26/article/24234?headline=Friends-Remember-Andrew-Martinez |url-status=live |access-date=2021-11-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221221043/http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2006-05-26/article/24234?headline=Friends-Remember-Andrew-Martinez |archive-date=2008-12-21}}</ref>

The 33-year-old Martinez was found with a plastic bag around his head. He was taken to [[Santa Clara Valley Medical Center]], where he was pronounced dead of suicide on May 18, 2006. Martinez's funeral was held on May 25. A memorial for him was held May 27th at the [[People's Park (Berkeley)|People's Park]] in Berkeley.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bhattacharjee |first=Riya |date=May 26, 2006 |title=Friends Remember Andrew Martinez |work=[[Berkeley Daily Planet]] |url=http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2006-05-26/article/24234?headline=Friends-Remember-Andrew-Martinez |url-status=live |access-date=2021-11-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221221043/http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2006-05-26/article/24234?headline=Friends-Remember-Andrew-Martinez |archive-date=2008-12-21}}</ref> On November 12 of that year, a public memorial was held at a community recreation center in Cupertino.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lagos |first=Marisa |date=2006-10-30 |title="Naked guy" to be remembered at memorial |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nwzchik/detail?blogid=32&entry_id=10363 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221070250/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nwzchik/detail?blogid=32&entry_id=10363 |archive-date=2008-12-21 |accessdate=2009-01-09}}</ref>

⚫
In 2009, his mother, Esther Krenn, settled a wrongful death lawsuit against Santa Clara County, which paid her $1 million and altered its policies so that family members would be notified in the event of a suicide attempt.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Chip |date=2009-05-19 |title=How Berkeley's 'Naked Guy' met a tragic end |work=The San Francisco Chronicle |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/How-Berkeley-s-Naked-Guy-met-a-tragic-end-3232119.php |access-date=2021-11-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031125721/https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/How-Berkeley-s-Naked-Guy-met-a-tragic-end-3232119.php |archive-date=2019-10-31}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
{{wikinews|'Naked Guy' Andrew Martinez dies}}
{{wikinews|'Naked Guy' Andrew Martinez dies}}
*[[Stephen Gough]]
*[[Clothes free organizations]]
*[[Public nudity]]
*[[Naturism]]


==References==
==References==
Line 43: Line 58:


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/bmc/berkeley_municipal_code/Title_13/32/index.html Berkeley Municipal Code: Chapter 13.32: NUDITY IN PUBLIC PLACES]
*[http://www.codepublishing.com/CA/Berkeley/html/Berkeley13/Berkeley1332/Berkeley1332.html Berkeley Municipal Code: Chapter 13.32: NUDITY IN PUBLIC PLACES]
⚫
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/magazine/31naked.t.html?scp=1&sq=%22andrew%20martinez%22&st=cse "The Naked Guy"], ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'' profile/obituary, December 31, 2006
*[http://www.andrewmartinez.info Andrew Martinez memorial site, with extensive interview]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173012/http://www.andrewmartinez.info/Home.html Andrew Martinez memorial site, with extensive interview]
⚫
*[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/magazine/31naked.t.html?scp=1&sq=%22andrew%20martinez%22&st=cse "The Naked Guy"], ''[[New York Times Magazine]]'' profile/obituary, December 31, 2006

{{Nudity}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
⚫
| NAME = Martinez, Andrew
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH = November 15, 1972
⚫
| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Santa Clara County, California]]
| DATE OF DEATH = May 18, 2006
| PLACE OF DEATH = [[Santa Clara County, California]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Andrew}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Andrew}}
[[Category:1972 births]]
[[Category:1972 births]]
⚫
[[Category:2006 suicides]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:Activists who committed suicide]]
[[Category:American naturists]]
[[Category:Civil disobedience]]
[[Category:Culture jamming]]
⚫
[[Category:Hispanic and Latino American people]]
⚫
[[Category:Public nudity]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley]]
[[Category:American people who died in prison custody]]
[[Category:American people who died in prison custody]]
⚫
[[Category:Hispanic and Latino American activists]]
⚫
[[Category:People from Santa Clara County, California]]
⚫
[[Category:People who died by suicide in prison custody]]
[[Category:Prisoners who died in California detention]]
[[Category:Prisoners who died in California detention]]
⚫
[[Category:people who committed suicide in prison custody]]
[[Category:Social nudity advocates]]
[[Category:Social nudity advocates]]
[[Category:Suicides in California]]
[[Category:Suicides in California]]
[[Category:People from Santa Clara County, California]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley people]]

Latest revision as of 22:28, 14 August 2024

This article is about the nudist and activist. For the Mexican-American drummer, see Andy DeMize.

Andrew Martinez
Andrew Martinez being arrested in Berkeley, California
Born
Luis Andrew Martinez

(1972-11-15)November 15, 1972
Santa Clara County, California
DiedMay 18, 2006(2006-05-18) (aged 33)
San Jose, California
Cause of deathSuicide
NationalityAmerican
Other namesNaked Guy
OccupationActivist
Known forPublic nudity and nudity activism

Luis Andrew Martinez (November 15, 1972 – May 18, 2006) was an activist who was known at the University of California, Berkeley as the Naked Guy.[1]

Early attention

[edit]

Martinez was a high school football player when he attended Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, California.[2]

Martinez attended classes at the University of California, Berkeley. In September 1992, his second year in college, he began appearing unclad in public and led a campus "nude-in" to protest social repression. Campus police first arrested him that fall for indecent exposure when he jogged unclothed near southside dormitories late on a Saturday night. The county prosecutor refused to prosecute, concluding that nudity without lewd behavior was not illegal in California.

Martinez began strolling around campus unclothed, citing philosophical reasons. He explained that when he dressed in expensive, uncomfortable, stylish, "appropriate" attire, he hid the fact that his personal belief was that clothes were useless in his environment except as a tool for class and gender differentiation. The university then banned nudity on campus.

Martinez wrote a 1992 guest column in the Oakland Tribune: "When I walk around nude, I am acting how I think it is reasonable to act, not how middle-class values tell me I should act. I am refusing to hide my dissent in normalcy even though it is very easy to do so." Martinez, who typically attended classes wearing only sandals and a backpack, became a cause célèbre at the university for a while, participating in a number of nude events on campus and performances by the Bay Area nude performance group the X-Plicit Players.[3]

He appeared on national talk shows, was profiled in a photo essay in Playgirl and was parodied in the 1994 college comedy PCU. As a response to Martinez's actions, UC Berkeley issued its "Policy Statement Concerning Public Nudity and Sexually Offensive Conduct" banning public nudity on December 7, 1992.[4]

Then neither employed nor furthering his education, Martinez continued living in Berkeley, and was arrested for public nudity by the city police. He fought those charges and won. It remained legal to walk around nude in Berkeley and he went further, attending a Berkeley city council meeting in the nude. The city adopted an anti-nudity ordinance in July 1993.[5] Martinez and some of his supporters then attended another city council meeting naked and he became the first person arrested under the new city ordinance.[6] He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge and got two years probation.

Later life

[edit]

Martinez began wearing clothes again and began to write a manuscript about his experiences.[7] He traveled to Europe and studied judo. After his return to the United States and continued unemployment, he began to manifest symptoms of mental illness and he spent much of the decade following his period of national attention moving among halfway houses, psychiatric institutions, occasional homelessness, and jail, but never getting comprehensive treatment, his family said.[8]

Martinez showed signs of schizophrenia and was prescribed medication, but with little improvement. "It was an endless cycle of trying to get answers but never getting any," said his mother. "It was endless, endless, endless."[9]

On January 10, 2006, Martinez was arrested after a fight at a halfway house and charged with two counts of battery and one count of assault with a deadly weapon. He was placed in maximum-security custody in Santa Clara County Jail in San Jose, California.[6]

Death

[edit]

The last time Martinez was seen alive by his mother was three weeks before his death when she had visited him in jail. She recounted, "He was sad. He was tired. He said he had enough. I alerted everyone, but nothing happened." On the evening of his death, a guard checked on him at 11 p.m. and he was fine, but a few minutes later other inmates reported hearing sounds coming from his cell. An officer returned at 11:19 and found Martinez unconscious.[10]

The 33-year-old Martinez was found with a plastic bag around his head. He was taken to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead of suicide on May 18, 2006. Martinez's funeral was held on May 25. A memorial for him was held May 27th at the People's Park in Berkeley.[11] On November 12 of that year, a public memorial was held at a community recreation center in Cupertino.[12]

In 2009, his mother, Esther Krenn, settled a wrongful death lawsuit against Santa Clara County, which paid her $1 million and altered its policies so that family members would be notified in the event of a suicide attempt.[13]

See also

[edit]
Wikinews has related news:

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Record of Luis A. Martinez. Ancestry.com. California Birth Index, 1905–1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.
  2. ^ Goldston, Linda (November 22, 2006). "Friends recall 'Naked Guy' for strong belief in freedom Family". The Oakland Tribune. Retrieved January 3, 2009. [dead link‍]
  3. ^ "UC Berkeley News, For the record". University of California, Berkeley. September 29, 2005. Archived from the original on October 31, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  4. ^ "UC Berkeley News, For the record". University of California, Berkeley. September 29, 2005. Archived from the original on October 31, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  5. ^ Burress, Charles (March 30, 1998). "BAY AREA FOCUS – NAKED REBELLION – It's all about free speech, Berkeley nudists insist". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on October 10, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  6. ^ a b "UC Berkeley's `Naked Guy' Dies in His Jail Cell". Los Angeles Times. May 21, 2006. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
  7. ^ Martinez, Andrew (September 21, 1993). "Militant Nudist Revolution! Andrew Martinez, 1993". Archived from the original on February 17, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  8. ^ Jones, Carolyn (May 21, 2006). "Champion of nudity found dead in jail cell -'Naked Guy' won fame in Berkeley, challenged values". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on July 11, 2006.
  9. ^ Jones, Carolyn (May 21, 2006). "Champion of nudity found dead in jail cell -'Naked Guy' won fame in Berkeley, challenged values". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on July 11, 2006.
  10. ^ Bhattacharjee, Riya (May 26, 2006). "Friends Remember Andrew Martinez". Berkeley Daily Planet. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  11. ^ Bhattacharjee, Riya (May 26, 2006). "Friends Remember Andrew Martinez". Berkeley Daily Planet. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  12. ^ Lagos, Marisa (October 30, 2006). ""Naked guy" to be remembered at memorial". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
  13. ^ Johnson, Chip (May 19, 2009). "How Berkeley's 'Naked Guy' met a tragic end". The San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on October 31, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
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