Osiris Quintero Munoz pleaded not guilty to the murder of Juan
DeDios Arvizu Cabrera, a 26-year-old from Castroville who was
stabbed to death outside Rio Nilo last March, according to court
records.
Osiris Quintero Munoz pleaded not guilty to the murder of Juan DeDios Arvizu Cabrera, a 26-year-old from Castroville who was stabbed to death outside Rio Nilo last March, according to court records.
The case has been delayed repeatedly since police arrested Munoz in his Gilroy apartment March 25, nine days after the early morning incident took place downtown on Martin Street.
Munoz, 27, also pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the charge of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the non-fatal stabbing of Adan Arvizu Cabrera, a 23-year-old from Salinas who was with Cabrera at the night club, according to court records.
Munoz’s public defender, Colin Enrique, did not return messages, but the defense continually delayed the plea as it awaited lab reports from the coroner’s office. Munoz will appear in court again at 9 a.m. Jan. 22 in Department 90 at the Santa Clara County Superior Courthouse in San Martin.
The district attorney’s office has also charged Munoz with violating the conditions of his probation, and that case has been folded into the current proceedings. Munoz was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon by the same court in September 2006.
Gilroy police arrested Munoz after a tip led undercover officers to a migrant camp near Anderson Reservoir in unincorporated Morgan Hill, where Munoz’s former employer was living. That’s where police located the convertible with a broken window that matched witnesses descriptions from the crime scene, but the number-letter combination on the Chrysler Sebring’s license plate differed from witnesses’ reports.
Using DMV records, though, police matched the car to Munoz and then arrested him at his crowded Gilroy apartment on El Cerrito Way for illegally possessing a single .380 round, a probation violation.
Police also recovered clothing and a towel that “appeared to have blood stains” and a 4-inch knife, according to court files and a statement of facts compiled by GPD Detective Stanley Devlin.
Munoz’s former employer told police that Munoz called him after the fight and said his car window had been broken by “Norteños.” After Munoz arrived at the camp early that morning, the man told police that Munoz left with two other males and returned later that day to say he had been in a fight and had stabbed the two victims who were beating his friend at the bar.
In the affidavit, Munoz told police he tried to stop his two friends from fighting the two victims, but security guards ejected all of them before he could. Outside, Munoz said he walked to his car and sat in it before one of his friends – who he said has since gone to Mexico – jumped into the car and told him to go. Munoz’s second friend fled on foot, he said.
