Jun 26, 2008

Man enters plea in fatal stabbing case

By Caitlin Cassady / Bay City News

A 25-year-old man charged with fatally stabbing another man at a Daly City restaurant June 13 pleaded not guilty Tuesday in San Mateo County Superior Court.

Carlos Padilla-Matute spoke through a Spanish language interpreter as he entered his plea Tuesday. He is charged with allegedly stabbing 33-year-old Jesus Hernandez of Daly City after an argument over a waitress escalated, San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

The two men were sitting at the counter of Cafe Durango around 5 p.m. when Hernandez allegedly began relentlessly hitting on the waitress, Wagstaffe said. Padilla-Matute, a churchgoing married man, apparently told him to stop. The fight then exploded with both men yelling expletives at each other.

Officers responded to the restaurant in Daly City's Top of the Hill neighborhood and found Hernandez unconscious on the floor suffering a stab wound to the torso, according to Lt. Jay Morena.

Hernandez was transported to San Francisco General Hospital where he was pronounced dead, Morena said.

The murder weapon was apparently a kitchen knife from the restaurant, Wagstaffe said.

Employees at the restaurant told police that Hernandez and Padilla-Matute were frequent customers at Cafe Durango. Employees said they knew the suspect only by his first name and thought he was an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, Morena said. Hernandez apparently lived in San Francisco and worked as a carpet installer, according to Morena.

At about 2 p.m. June 15, police responded to the Revere Street address and apprehended Padilla-Matute without incident, according to Morena.

Padilla-Matute will return to court Aug. 5 to set a date for a preliminary hearing. He remains in custody on no-bail status.