The homeless suspect from the stabbing homicide at a Hollister cemetery in March 2011 has accepted a plea deal on a lesser charge and faces a likely sentence of six years in prison, according to court records.
Jorge M. Diaz, 35, a homeless man from the Hollister area, previously pleaded not guilty in February 2012. Diaz was accused of stabbing 72-year-old Francisco Rojas on March 30 of 2011 at the IOOF Cemetery on Buena Vista Road.
In January, a jury trial was vacated as Diaz agreed to accept a plea arrangement on a charge of voluntary manslaughter, with the homicide count dropped. He is set for a sentence hearing at 9 a.m. Feb. 14 in room 101 before Judge Steven Sanders.
Judge’s notes in court records indicate a likely mid-term sentence of six years in state prison.
The nearly two-year court process began following the cemetery incident – after which witnesses described seeing Diaz with Rojas together moments before the murder. Diaz was found at another location in Hollister the day after the homicide.
Around 3:15 p.m. March 30, deputies responded to the 600 block of Buena Vista after a report of a stabbing. Deputies found Rojas with a stab wounds in his heart and on his hands. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
If he had been convicted of homicide, Diaz would have faced 25 years to life in prison.
