(KRON/BCN) — A 40-year-old King City resident was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years in prison in the voluntary manslaughter of a man nearly three years ago, according to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office.
Ruben Chavez Laveaga was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Mark Hood and his term was doubled because of a prior strike offense, prosecutors said.
On Dec. 4, 2012 around 6:30 a.m., Laveaga stabbed the victim while they were in an enclosed patio, prosecutors said.
The victim’s wife entered the room when she overheard the pair arguing to find her husband on the ground suffering from a stab wound and a man, later identified as Laveaga, rushing away from the scene, according to prosecutors.
The victim was taken to Mee Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead later that morning, prosecutors said.
Days after the death, investigators showed the wife a line of photos, which included one of Laveaga because he was seen in a video stealing beer from a 7-Eleven store in the area hours before the homicide, according to prosecutors.
The woman said Laveaga’s picture matched the man who left the room, prosecutors said.
Investigators added Laveaga’s picture to the line-up because there were physical similarities between the man in the store and the one seen by the wife, according to prosecutors.
Laveaga was arrested on Dec. 12, 2012 in Calexico, a city in Imperial County close to the state border to Mexico, prosecutors said.