Oscar Robles Diaz's trial for stabbing his former roommate to
death after a night of drinking, singing and chatting up friends ended in mistrial in May.
His second trial for the crime ended today with a conviction.
The Santa Ana 26-year-old now faces a maximum sentence of 16 years to life at his Dec. 2 sentencing hearing in Santa Ana.
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Around 2 a.m. on May 28, 2009, Diaz stabbed 47-year-old Leon Abarca Torres 20 times outside the Santa Ana residence Torres had until a week earlier shared with Diaz and others. When Diaz was arrested hours later by
Santa Ana
police officers, he was wearing clothing with dried blood on it, and DNA evidence
linked samples to blood found at the stabbing scene.
The jury in May was hung up on whether to find Diaz guilty of first- or second-degree murder. Today, the jury voted unanimously for second with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon found true.
Previous coverage:
- Oscar Robles Diaz Stands Trial Again for Murder of Leon Abarca Torres
- Oscar Robles Diaz Accused of Murdering Leon Abarca Torres
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.