(AP) — Once Jose Manuel Martinez acknowledged a vast killing spree that included nine people in California, officials set out to decide whether the self-described cartel enforcer actually carried out the horrific crimes. Yet confirming his ties to Mexican drug cartels couldn't be independently determined, Logue said, because Martinez refuses to name them. Martinez will be sentenced next month to life in prison without the possibility of parole under the terms of a plea deal that removes the possibility of the death penalty. Nathan Leedy, an attorney in the county public defender's office who represented Martinez, declined to comment outside of court. In California, he was charged with killing people in Tulare, Kern and Santa Barbara counties between 1980 and 2011.