Man Sentenced to 50 Years for Road Rage Shooting of Pregnant Indiana Woman That Caused Emergency C-Section

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Curtis T. Cutler, 39, has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for a 2023 road rage shooting of a pregnant woman in Plainfield, Indiana. The details are horrific.

What Happened

On the morning of March 1, 2023, Curtis Cutler, 37 at the time, was driving a plain, little white cargo van with tinted windows. Also driving was another vehicle, a blue passenger car occupied by a young couple. The driver of that car was a male, and his passenger unfortunately was a woman named Julianna Martinez, who was 20 years old and also seven months pregnant at the time. At some point, a road rage dispute broke out between the occupants of the two vehicles around Township Line and Dan Jones roads in Plainfield, Indiana.

What exactly led to the traffic dispute was unclear in court testimony, but witnesses confirmed the confrontation lasted for blocks. As the drivers approached the intersection of Solidago Drive and Township Line Road, Cutler pulled his van alongside the blue sedan and fired multiple rounds from his driver’s side window directly into the passenger side of the blue car. The results were catastrophic.

Julianna was the target, and one of the bullets struck her in the back where she sat in the passenger seat. After firing the shots, Cutler sped away in the white van. Even after Cutler’s unhinged act, Juliana’s driver (who is her boyfriend and child’s father) had the clarity of mind to try and save Juliana and their baby.

Juliana’s boyfriend didn’t stop at the scene out of fear. He bravely drove to a house on Solidago Drive. When he got there, he and bystanders performed emergency first aid on Julianna until medics arrived.

Julianna was rushed to a hospital in Indianapolis. Her condition was so critical that doctors had to perform an emergency C-section right then and there to save the baby. After hours of surgery, doctors weren’t confident that she or her baby would make it. And Cutler was a ghost.

For seven months, Cutler evaded arrest. The only description police had was his race and that he had a “large tattoo on his left arm.” They also knew he drove a plain white van. It wasn’t until October 20, 2023, seven months later, that Plainfield detectives finally made an arrest after an extensive investigation involving search warrants and ballistics that linked Cutler to the gun. Juliana and her baby both made it. In the wake of this mindless attack, lives were changed for the worse.

The Aftermath

In a crowded courtroom during the sentencing phase of Curtis Cutler, Juliana Martinez read her victim’s impact statement. “The physical scars are one thing, but the fear I feel every time I get into a car now is something I have to live with every single day. He didn’t just shoot a car; he tried to take away a mother from her child before they even met,” Juliana said. But that wasn’t all. She had something more to say about the trauma Cutler had caused her.

As the court and her family watched, Juliana said, “In a split second, I went from planning for a baby to fighting for my life. I didn’t know if I would ever wake up, or if my baby would be there if I did.” Cutler’s sentencing reflected the seriousness of his crime.

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Cutler was found guilty of Attempted Murder, Aggravated Battery Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Serious Violent Felon and Criminal Recklessness. He was sentenced to 50 years to be served after another 12-year sentence for Unlawful Possession of a Firearm and Possession of Methamphetamine, previous crimes he was convicted of.

The Takeaway

Curtis T. Cutler, 39, has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for a road rage shooting of then-pregnant woman Juliana Martinez in 2023. She and her baby both survived. Cutler’s 50-year sentence is to be served after his 12-year sentence. Juliana was left traumatized by this nightmare, and it’s not something she or anyone deserves. Cutler has the next 62 years to think about that.

Jermaine Reed, MFA is an educator and the Editor-in-Chief of TheReedersBlock. Take time to Subscribe. It helps promote independent journalism and the site. Follow him on TikTok, where he has over 9 million views and nearly 1 million likes. Help him get there.

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