Man convicted of second-degree murder for a fatal stabbing during a fight in Anaheim

SANTA ANA — A 28-year-old man was convicted Tuesday of fatally stabbing a man in an Anaheim restaurant parking lot.

Armando Andrei Urbina-Martinez was convicted of second-degree murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon. Jurors began deliberating at the end of the day March 28 and reached a verdict after six days Tuesday afternoon.

Urbina-Martinez, who is scheduled to be sentenced June 21, killed 22-year-old Cody Stewart on Oct. 30, 2020, outside the Las Brisas Mexican restaurant, 1734 S. Euclid St.

Stewart and two friends — Daniel Canales and Zachary Chavez — went to a bar at 1728 S. Euclid, but the bar was closed so they went to the restaurant in the same shopping center, prosecutors said.

When the restaurant closed for the night, the three got into a dispute with another group in the parking lot at about 2:15 a.m., Senior Deputy District Attorney Jeff Moore said.

Either Stewart or someone in his group made an insulting remark derogatory to homosexuals toward someone else in the parking lot, Moore said.

“These two groups start arguing about the comment,” Moore said. “It was a lot of drunk trash talk, posturing and insults.”

But eventually the dispute “calmed down,” Moore said.

That’s when the defendant entered the picture and got into a dispute with Stewart and his friends, according to Moore.

Urbina-Martinez’s attorney, Cameron Talley, claimed that Stewart, who was about a foot taller and heavier, landed the first blow, knocking the defendant down.

Talley pointed to Canales’ testimony that Stewart was “going to (beat Urbina-Martinez) up.” The defense attorney said his client “acted in complete self-defense.”

“Clearly, there’s not even an intent to kill” when the defendant stabbed Stewart, Talley argued.

“Any way you slice it, it’s self-defense,” Talley argued.

Moore said Talley’s attempts to label the victim as a “thug” or “punk” who was drunk was an attempt to belittle his humanity, to “make it easier” to accept a self-defense argument.

Moore downplayed Canales’ testimony, which he said was mistaken at times. He pointed to the video of the confrontation as more accurate direct evidence.

Urbina-Martinez argued with Stewart and his friends for a few minutes before it escalated into a fight, Moore said.

“He went over there looking for trouble,” Moore said. “The defendant brought a knife to a verbal argument, not a fist fight. … An argument that had already settled down.”

Source: Orange County Register