A 36-year-old Venezuelan illegal immigrant already facing burglary charges walked out of a California courtroom on his own recognizance, and one day later, prosecutors say, he fatally stabbed a 68-year-old retiree outside the man's home.
Marcos Iriarte-Valdez now faces a murder charge with special circumstances in the killing of Todd Stewart, a retiree in Martinez, a quiet suburb east of San Francisco in Contra Costa County. Contra Costa County District Attorney Diane Becton, a Democrat, filed a felony complaint alleging Iriarte-Valdez committed the killing during a burglary attempt, a special circumstance under California law that could mean life in prison without parole if he is convicted. The complaint also includes enhancement allegations for use of a knife and for committing a felony while out on conditional release.
The timeline that led to Stewart's death is drawing sharp criticism from federal officials, who say California's sanctuary policies blocked the kind of routine cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents that could have kept Iriarte-Valdez locked up.
Iriarte-Valdez was first arrested April 29 on at least two charges of residential burglary with persons present in Orinda, a nearby community. He was placed on pretrial release with home detention monitoring. On Aug. 4, he was arrested again for violating the terms of that monitoring.
The next day, Aug. 5, Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Nichelle Holmes, a Newsom appointee, released him on his own recognizance and returned him to home detention monitoring.
One day after that, on Aug. 6, surveillance video captured Iriarte-Valdez wearing a tactical vest and emerging from a Cadillac near Stewart's Martinez home. Stewart was heard screaming in pain, according to the account of the video. He was stabbed and killed.
Police obtained an arrest warrant from Contra Costa Superior Court charging Iriarte-Valdez with murder and with committing a felony while on own-recognizance release. A Contra Costa SWAT team arrested him at his home just after 6 p.m. PT on Friday. Bail was initially set at $1.1 million.
ICE placed a federal detainer on Iriarte-Valdez the following day.
ICE told reporters that Iriarte-Valdez was "legally admitted" to the United States in 2007. He hails from Venezuela but also holds Spanish citizenship. DHS later identified him on the social media platform X as an "illegal alien," using the alternate name Marcos Valdezusper. Neither ICE nor DHS explained what happened between 2007 and 2026 to change his immigration status.
Beyond the burglary charges that preceded the killing, ICE listed additional offenses attributed to Iriarte-Valdez: inflicting corporal injury on a spouse, receiving stolen property, trespassing, loitering, and entering a noncommercial dwelling. The New York Post reported his record also includes DUI, hit-and-run, and a prior conviction for violating a protective order.
That criminal history was available to the court when Judge Holmes chose to release him on his own recognizance. Fox News Digital reached out to Holmes for comment but did not report receiving a response.
The case fits a pattern that has played out in other states, where ignored or unavailable ICE detainers preceded violent crimes by illegal immigrants who remained free in local communities.
Iriarte-Valdez pleaded not guilty at a hearing on Wednesday. Judge David Goldstein, an appointee of former Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, called him a "risk to public safety" and ordered him held without bail.
DA Becton issued a statement after the charges were filed:
"Our office will pursue this case with diligence and integrity to hold Iriarte-Valdez fully accountable under the law for this devastating act of violence."
Becton added that her thoughts were "with the victim's loved ones and the larger community as they navigate this unimaginable loss." A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 1 before Judge Michael Nieto, another Newsom appointee, in nearby Richmond. Iriarte-Valdez is also set to appear before Judge Holmes on Sept. 9 on the original April burglary charges.
Martinez police said their investigation remains open. "Our understanding of the incident may change as more individuals are interviewed and evidence is collected and analyzed," the department said.
White House border czar Thomas Homan placed responsibility squarely on California's sanctuary framework and on Gov. Gavin Newsom. Speaking on "Fox & Friends," Homan argued that nothing in California's sanctuary law prevents a local officer from simply picking up the phone.
"There's nothing against the sanctuary law in California for a deputy to pick a phone up and say, 'Hey, this guy's being let go in an hour.'"
Homan went further, tying the killing directly to the state's political posture toward the Trump administration:
"This person is dead because Governor Newsom and the State of California put politics, hatred of President Trump, over public safety."
Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom's office for comment but did not report receiving a response.
DHS echoed Homan's framing in public statements. The department demanded that California hand Iriarte-Valdez over for removal, writing: "Sanctuary politicians must stop putting politics above public safety. This type of insanity leads to more crimes and more innocent victims."
DHS had placed an immigration detainer on Iriarte-Valdez as far back as September 2025, according to a separate Fox News report, raising the question of why he remained in local custody rather than federal hands for nearly a year before the killing.
The structural problem is straightforward. Federal agents identify an illegal immigrant in local custody. They file a detainer. California's sanctuary framework limits how, and whether, local officials cooperate. The suspect walks. And in cases like this one, someone pays the price.
Federal enforcement operations have tried to work around the impasse. Earlier this year, a federal operation arrested hundreds of previously deported migrants from California jails. But those sweeps happen after the fact, after the release, after the detainer goes unanswered, and sometimes after the crime.
The broader enforcement landscape continues to shift under the Trump administration, which has moved aggressively to restore tools like ICE traffic stops and expand federal operations inside sanctuary jurisdictions. But those federal actions cannot substitute for a local judge's decision to release a suspect with a long criminal record back onto the street.
Todd Stewart, a 68-year-old retiree, was alive on Aug. 5 when Judge Holmes signed the release order. He was dead on Aug. 6. The system that was supposed to keep him safe chose leniency for a man with burglary charges, a domestic violence record, and an ICE detainer on file. No amount of policy language changes the fact that the decision to release Iriarte-Valdez was a choice, and Todd Stewart bore the consequence.
Accountability in cases like these never seems to reach the people who made the call. It only reaches the people who lived next door.
