El Paso District Attorney James Montoya is dropping a murder charge in a bizarre case against a man arrested in the fatal stabbing of his grandfather with a fork after a judge threw out an alleged confession.
The murder charge againstKevin Robles was dismissed on Sept. 8 in the death of 81-year-old Juan Julian Macias Salas in December 2022, court records show.
In an unrelated case, Robles, 28, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for violating his probation terms in an aggravated assault case.
The El Paso District Attorney's Office confirmed the dismissal.
"Since December 2022, the strength of evidence against the defendant has deteriorated significantly," El Paso District Attorney James Montoya said in a statement. "The court excluded the defendant's
recorded statement, and the key witness became unavailable.
"After assessing the current state of the admissible evidence, our office determined that we could no longer prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. However, the defendant's probation was revoked in an unrelated 2018 case, and he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment."
No information was released on who the witness was, but court documents only list Robles' parents as witnesses. However, in murder trials, prosecutors routinely call dozens of witnesses, including medical experts, to testify.
The dismissal came after a judge threw out an alleged confession by Robles. The judge ruled that Robles was suffering from mental illness and could not be expected to understand his Miranda rights.
“My concern is what is the criteria being used to accept these types of cases that put the defendant and his family through the expense and emotional trauma of potentially looking at a life sentence?” Felix Valenzuela, Robles’ attorney, said. “There should be a better way to evaluate these cases before so much emotional scarring occurs to all people, victim’s families included, involved.”
A murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 99 years or life in prison.
Grandfather found stabbed to death in El Paso Lower Valley home
El Paso Police Department officers responded to a report of an aggravated assault on Dec. 14, 2022 at a home in the 300 block of Colmillo Drive.
Robles' father had reported the incident to 911. Robles called his father and told him he was at a convenience store and needed a ride. Robles allegedly told his father that he had attacked Macias Salas with a knife, a criminal complaint affidavit states. Robles lived with his parents and grandfather.
Officers arrived at the home and found Macias Salas dead with blood on his face and neck, with a possible stab wound on his neck, the affidavit states.
During a police interrogation, Robles told officers that he felt "agitated in the middle of the night and sandpapered a fork into a knife," the affidavit states. He allegedly added that he was hearing voices telling him to kill someone or himself.
He went into Macias Salas' room and "laid hands on him," Robles told officers, the affidavit states. He allegedly said he used a fork instead of a knife because he "did not want the wound to be too big."
Robles was arrested on suspicion of murder and booked into the El Paso County jail on a $2 million bond. He has remained jailed as his case has been pending in the court system.
El Paso judge throws out alleged confession
As the murder case moved toward trial, Robles' attorneys filed a motion to have Robles' statement from the police interrogation thrown out. They argued that officers violated Robles' constitutional rights.
The attorneys argued that prosecutors failed to prove that Robles "intentionally or knowingly waived his Miranda rights, based on the totality of the circumstances, including Robles’s age, experience, limited education, low IQ, and mental health issues, as well as his lack of sleep, confusion, and psychological stress," according to appeals documents filed with the Texas Eighth Court of Appeals.
They also argued that Robles "tried to stop the interview three times, but the detectives did not respect his right to remain silent."
The interrogation was conducted about four hours after Robles' arrest, appeals documents state. An officer read Robles his Miranda rights before the interview. Robles replied yes that he knew his rights.
Robles told officers that he “just went into crisis” and “couldn’t help it,” when questioned about the fatal stabbing.
Robles "rather abruptly" told the officers, “That’s it. I’m done talking for now,” appeal documents state. An officer asked Robles, "okay, you’re done talking for now.”
Another officer asked Robles for consent to get a DNA sample. Robles said he would “wait for a lawyer.”
Dr. James Schutte, a licensed psychologist, testified during a Aug. 1, 2024, suppression hearing on Robles' mental health issues and the interrogation.
He testified that medical records showed Robles had severe mental illnesses and a low IQ. Schutte added Robles was suffering from "psychosis and other mental conditions (that could) affect (an individual’s) ability to understand his Miranda rights.”
Prosecutors countered that Robles and his attorneys' arguments were "contradictory" because they claimed that Robles did not understand his Miranda rights, but at the same time, they said he was trying to stop the interview multiple times.
Judge Monique Velarde Reyes of the 327th District Court agreed with the defense attorneys. She ruled that Robles suffered from “severe psychological impairments that affect(ed) his cognitive functioning and decision-making abilities,” appeals documents state.
Reyes ordered that the statement from the interrogation could not be used in trial.
Prosecutors appealed her ruling, but the Texas Eighth Court of Appeals justices confirmed Reyes' ruling.
El Paso man sentenced in unrelated case
Robles was on probation at the time of the fatal stabbing, court records show. The probation stemmed from a 2018 aggravated assault with a deadly weapon case.
He stabbed a 27-year-old man on April 8, 2018 at a Lower Valley apartment complex "for unknown reason," a criminal complaint affidavit filed in that case states. The victim suffered four stab wounds to the chest area from a knife. The victim survived his wounds.
The victim told officers that he had known Robles for several years because they grew up in the same neighborhood. He added that he had "no idea" why Robles stabbed him, the affidavit states.
Robles pleaded guilty to the charge in March 2019 and was sentenced to 10 years of probation. Court documents state that Robles violated several conditions of his probation, including drinking alcohol and using drugs, public intoxication, missing curfew, and failing to attend court-ordered psychological and mental health treatment.
Judge Reyes revoked the probation on Sept. 8 and sentenced Robles to 10 years in prison on the aggravated assault charge, court records show.
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso murder charge dropped after key evidence falls apart
