James Martinez

James Martinez was a fictional character in the television series "NYPD Blue". He was portrayed by Nicholas Turturro from the first episode until midway through the seventh season. He began his run on the show as a plainclothes officer in the Anti-Crime unit who made a very positive impression with the senior detectives in the squad, especially Det. John Kelly. He earned a detective's shield midway through Season 1 during the Holiday season and was presented with his gold shield during the one-five's neighborhood Christmas event. He became the partner of Det. Greg Medavoy and they tended to handle cases with more of a comic relief or at least urgent feel (this point was driven home when they took on a high-profile murder case in Season 4 and had the ADA openly question their assignment, which they in fact cleared quickly). James met a PAA named Gina, and they fell in love, got married, and had a son named James Jr. He left the squad when he was promoted to sergeant in Season 7.