16-year-old boy accused in fatal stabbing, claims self-defense

A Merced teenager was arrested on suspicion of homicide Sunday night for allegedly killing his mother’s boyfriend, the Merced County Sheriff’s Department said.

Detectives believe the incident happened Saturday night.

The suspect, a 16-year-old boy, told investigators he was defending his mother and himself about 9 p.m. Saturday when he stabbed the victim in the leg, striking a major artery, Sgt. Delray Shelton told the Merced Sun-Star.

Benito David Aguirre, 39, was flown to a Modesto hospital where he later died, the Sheriff’s Department said.

Deputies said Aguirre also suffered a “superficial stab wound” to his torso.

The incident happened at a home in the 400 block of Cone Avenue in Merced. Investigators had no comment regarding the weapon used in the death and did not say whether a possible murder weapon had been recovered.

Deputies said the teenager’s mother, Josephine Gonzalez, 33, allegedly took her son to Sacramento after the incident. Deputies arrested the teenager just before 9 p.m. Sunday in the Sacramento area. He was booked into the Iris Garrett Juvenile Justice Correctional Complex in Merced on a warrant for suspicion of homicide, Shelton said.

Gonzalez was not arrested.

“The detectives are planning to seek charges of accessory to the crime against (Gonzalez) through the district attorney,” Shelton said.

Shelton said the teenager told investigators his mother and Aguirre got into some type of argument Friday night, which later turned physical. “He said he was defending himself as well as defending his mother,” Shelton said.

Detectives on Monday were still working to determine exactly what happened.

According to Merced Superior Court records, Aguirre had an extensive criminal history dating back more than 20 years, including numerous domestic violence convictions as well as convictions for violating subsequent domestic violence-related restraining orders.

Aguirre pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence charges in 1994 and multiple times in 2000 and 2001, court records show.

He was arrested again in October 2013 on another misdemeanor domestic violence case. That case was still open at the time of his death. Court records indicate Aguirre failed to appear at his most recent hearing in the case on Sept. 23.

Aguirre was also a key witness in a high-profile murder trial in Merced County in 2009. Aguirre testified against James White, who was convicted of killing former Merced High football standout Stephen Jackson on March 8, 2007. White shot and killed Jackson after a fistfight at Cone Avenue and G Street. White was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison, based at least in part on Aguirre’s testimony, according to news archives.

Michael Rasmussen, 38, who identified himself as Aguirre’s cousin, said there was much more to his cousin than his criminal history. Rasmussen described Aguirre as an extremely kind individual “who would always just give me the shirt off his back.”

“It’s just tragic that his life was taken, that my cousin’s life was taken,” Rasmussen told the Sun-Star. “He was just always there for me, no matter what I was going through. It’s just tragic that all I have now are memories of my cousin.”

Aguirre’s death marks the 24th homicide of 2014 in Merced County.

This story was originally published October 6, 2014 at 3:22 PM.