A prison unlawful migrant charged with homicide for allegedly butchering a Bay Space retiree to loss of life within the sufferer’s entrance yard is accused of committing the brutal crime throughout a botched housebreaking, courtroom paperwork present.
Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, 36 — a Venezuelan nationwide who additionally holds citizenship in Spain — faces life in jail for the deadly stabbing of Todd Stewart, 68, simply exterior Stewart’s Martinez house final week.
Iriarte-Valdez had been launched from jail solely the day earlier than the alleged killing.
Contra Costa County District Lawyer Diana Becton vowed to carry him accountable for the devastating act of violence that took the lifetime of Stewart, a father of two who’s being mourned by surprised neighbors and members of the family.
“Our ideas are with the sufferer’s family members and the bigger neighborhood as they navigate this unimaginable loss,” Becton mentioned.
Prosecutors say Iriarte-Valdez stabbed Stewart to loss of life with a knife whereas committing a residential housebreaking at roughly 5:10 pm on August 6. The suspect was hit with three extra enhancements to the homicide cost associated to his alleged use of a knife throughout a housebreaking and his being out on conditional launch on the time.
Surveillance footage that captured the horrifying assault seems to indicate Iriarte-Valdez pulling as much as Stewart’s home in a Cadillac SUV sporting darkish denims, a grey shirt and a protecting vest.
Iriarte-Valdez, who additionally lived in Martinez, is allegedly proven sitting in his car for some time earlier than getting out and launching a brutal knife assault on Stewart.
The boys could be seen grappling on a sidewalk and between two parked vehicles earlier than Stewart stumbles to the bottom.
Iriarte-Valdez allegedly continued stabbing Stewart after he fell, because the sufferer howls in agony.
Stewart was pronounced useless on the scene regardless of medics’ makes an attempt to avoid wasting his life.
Martinez police arrested Iriarte-Valdez at his house Friday evening. Cops used surveillance and bodily proof from the scene to establish him, prosecutors mentioned.
Iriarte-Valdez was arraigned Wednesday in Contra Costa Superior Court docket, the place he pled not responsible to the homicide cost.
Decide David Goldstein, who presided over the arraignment, known as the suspect “a danger to public security” and ordered him held with out bail.
Iriarte-Valdez is due again in courtroom on Sept. 9 for a scheduling listening to.
The migrant, who has been within the US since 2007, was already in bother with the regulation on the time of the alleged homicide.
He was granted pretrial launch by activist decide Nichelle Holmes after being jailed final Tuesday for allegedly violating the phrases of his house detention monitoring in a unique residential housebreaking case.
About 24 hours after Holmes launched him, Iriarte-Valdez allegedly stabbed Stewart to loss of life.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Holmes to Contra Costa Superior Court docket in 2024.
She described herself as a protester in a profile printed by her regulation college alma mater in 2017.
“Coming to work each day and making certain that justice is served is my approach of protesting,” mentioned Holmes, a former a deputy district legal professional for Contra Costa County.
Mates instructed KTVU Stewart had lived within the neighborhood for greater than 30 years and simply accomplished renovations at his house.
“He was probably the most mild-mannered particular person and probably the most useful,” mentioned a good friend. “It’s nonetheless unbelievable. I look throughout the road, and I count on him to come back out and wave.”
The Division of Homeland Safety revealed on Tuesday that Iriarte-Valdez is a “Venezuelan unlawful alien” who dedicated the alleged crime “in sanctuary California.”
The DHS urged Newsom to carry Iriarte-Valdez in custody.
“[Governor Gavin Newsom] should NOT RELEASE this assassin from jail and switch him over to us so we are able to REMOVE him from our nation,” the division posted on X.
“Sanctuary politicians should cease placing politics above public security,” DHS instructed The California Put up. “This sort of madness results in extra crimes and extra harmless victims.”
On Thursday, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan blasted Newsom and California‘s “sanctuary” legal guidelines over Stewart’s alleged homicide.
“This particular person’s useless as a result of Governor Newsom and the state of California places politics — hatred of President Trump — over public security,” he mentioned.
