Los Angeles DA failed to convict the man who killed two and injured six in Las Vegas stabbing
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The man charged with stabbing eight and killing two in Las Vegas on Thursday was acquitted of another violent crime charge last year after prosecutors failed to prosecute in time.
Court documents obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com reveal that undocumented Guatemalan migrant Yoni Barrios, 32, was charged in 2019 with criminal domestic violence by Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who has since stepped down.
Had he been convicted, Barrios probably would have been incarcerated and deported and would not have been free this week to commit the senseless massacre on the Vegas strip.
But then Lacey failed to bring the case to court in time, and after 90 days had passed, the judge was forced to drop the case under California’s quick-trial laws.
Barrios was also charged with dangerous driving and without a license in Riverside, California in 2016.
Yoni Christian Barrios, 32, charged with killing two and trying to kill six more on Thursday, would have been incarcerated were it not for the failings of LA DA Jackie Lacey
Lacey (above), who has since resigned, waited more than a year to sue Barrios, whose case finally went to court last year but was thrown out for violating the state’s quick process laws.
Maris Mareen Digiovanni, 30, (pictured) was stabbed to death in the broad daylight attack, which also claimed the life of Brent Allan Hallett, 47
After his arrest on Thursday, Barrios told detectives he was from Guatemala and wanted ICE to take him home, according to a report released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD).
Sources at the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News that they believed he is an undocumented migrant with no visa.
A criminal file for Barrios obtained by DailyMail.com shows that in July 2019 he was charged with criminally injuring a spouse, cohabitant or co-parent in an act of domestic violence.
If charged as a misdemeanor, offenders can be sentenced to up to four years in prison.
Barrios’ file says the alleged incident took place on August 18, 2018.
Lacey filed the case a year later, but the first hearing was postponed to more than two years later, on April 8, 2021.
The court documents say the case went to trial but was dismissed the same day by the judge because it had languished in the court system for too long.
Under California’s Penal Code, prosecutors must bring a case to trial within 60 days of filing a felony charge.
If Barrios had been tried promptly after the case was filed and convicted in July 2019, he could have faced up to four years in prison and would not have been free to commit the alleged two murders and six attempted murders that convicted him. charged this week.
Barrio, pictured on Friday, was charged with domestic violence that could have sent him four years in prison, unable to commit Thursday’s brutal attack
The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act also lists a domestic violence conviction as one of the primary criteria for deporting an illegal immigrant.
During her tenure as LA DA from 2012 to 2020, Lacey branded herself strict against crime, even prosecuting death penalty cases in the face of a moratorium from Governor Gavin Newsom.
But she came under fire from justice activists for her delay in prosecuting some prominent figures, including West Hollywood Democrat donor Ed Buck, who injected multiple male sex workers with potentially lethal doses of drugs in his apartment.
She was also criticized by the Black Lives Matter movement for failing to prosecute police officer Clifford Proctor for shooting Brendon Glenn, despite a recommendation from former LAPD chief Charlie Beck.
Barrios still has a criminal record in Riverside, east of Los Angeles. In April 2016, he was caught speeding and driving without a license.
He was summoned and paid a fine.
According to his LVMPD arrest report, Barrios lived in Los Angeles and traveled to Vegas on Tuesday to stay with a friend, but when they declined the offer, he went to the strip and ended up attacking a group of showgirls to “take the anger out.” to leave’ ‘.
Anna Westby, 26, (above) recalled the moment her colleague at Best Showgirls in Vegas, Maris Mareen Digiovanni, 30, died in her arms during Thursday’s stabbing
Digiovanni, who was also a teacher, was fatally stabbed in the heart. Pictured: Digiovanni (left) in her showgirl costume on the Vegas strip
One of the victims was Maris Digiovanni, 30, Westby’s colleague at Best Showgirls in Vegas, who died at the hands of her friend Anna Westby after being approached by Barrios.
“He drew a knife and showed it to us as if he was modeling it,” she told the New York Post. “Before we could say anything. He grabbed the knife and stabbed Maris in the heart,” she said.
The moment was so shocking for Westby, 26, that she didn’t even have time to worry as she tried to put pressure on Digiovanni’s wound.
‘And another man said, ‘Ma’am, you have a stab wound in your back.’ I said, ‘I know.’ Can you take your shirt and put it on my back while I put this on her?’
After stabbing Digiovanni in the heart, Westby said the man stabbed a fellow showgirl, Victoria Caytano. Westby said she and Digiovanni tried to flee, but to no avail.
“Maris only reached it about five meters before collapsing,” Westby told the Post. “And he came after me and stabbed me in the back, and he ran.”
The showgirl’s boss, Cheryl Lowthrop, said her employees are still reeling from the incident as they mourned Digiovanni, who also worked as an elementary school teacher.
Lowthorp has started GoFundMe page to help its employees affected by the tragedy and to cover funeral and other expenses for Digiovanni’s family.