Defendant in 2017 Garden Grove stabbing pleads guilty to manslaughter

SANTA ANA — A 21-year-old man has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of a transient in Garden Grove two years ago.

Daniel Robert Jones-Hoebel pleaded guilty on Friday to voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon, both felonies.

Jones-Hoebel killed 20-year-old Genaro Diaz on June 9, 2017, according to evidence presented in his preliminary hearing.

Police were called about 9:19 p.m. the night of the killing to 12862 Haster St., where Diaz had been stabbed to death.

Diaz had gotten into an argument with a former girlfriend, who was letting the transient sleep in her car, that escalated into Diaz punching the woman, who was the mother of their 3-year-old daughter, according to testimony in the preliminary hearing. Jones-Hoebel was dating the woman’s friend, who called him and another man to the scene, police testified.

Jones-Hoebel got into a fight with Diaz that led to the victim’s stabbing with a switchblade, police testified.

Jones-Hoebel had been charged with murder, but was allowed to plead to the lesser offense as part of a plea deal negotiated with prosecutors. The defendant was scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 9 in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

He was the second of two men arrested on suspicion of Diaz’s killing. Garden Grove resident Antonio Esquivel was taken into custody as a suspect on the night of the stabbing, but court records show he was never prosecuted in connection to the incident. Police found and booked Jones-Hoebel five days later.

Register reporter Eric Licas contributed to this story.