VENTURA : Guatemalan Pleads Guilty in Stabbing
A Guatemalan immigrant pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter Wednesday in the stabbing death of a fellow countryman in a drunken brawl last year in Simi Valley.
Julio Arriaza, 27, admitted that he handed a knife to Oscar Garnica-Vargas, who fatally stabbed Ezequiel Romero, 37, on July 19. Romero died of a knife wound to the abdomen.
Garnica-Vargas pleaded guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter using a deadly weapon. He faces up to 12 years in prison. Arriaza faces up to 11 years in prison. Sentencing for both is scheduled May 15 in Ventura County Superior Court.
A jury acquitted Garnica-Vargas of first-degree murder in the case. After deliberation four days, however, it failed to reach verdicts on lesser charges of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. The district attorney’s office was deciding whether to prosecute the men on the lesser counts when they entered the guilty pleas.
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