The Fresno man accused of killing his friend with a knife and garden shovel agreed to a plea deal Friday, one day after video of the vicious attack was shown in court.
Jonathan David Navarro, 28, pleaded no contest to a charge of second-degree murder plus an enhancement for using a knife. In exchange, prosecutor Elana Smith reduced the murder charge from first degree to second degree and dropped two additional charges.
The plea deal means Navarro’s maximum prison sentence drops from 25-years-to-life to 16-years-to-life. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 10.
At the close of his preliminary hearing on Thursday, Judge Houry Sanderson advised Navarro to give serious consideration to whether he should pursue a trial by jury, given the weight of the evidence against him.
Sanderson was referring to graphic video footage captured by a doorbell camera showing the July 29, 2024, attack by Navarro against his ex-girlfriend Brianna Marquez and her new boyfriend Devin McNew, 27.
Devin McNew, 27. Special to The Bee
Video clips show a chaotic scene with Navarro striking a screaming Marquez several times with the shovel as she stood in a driveway between two parked trucks. Marquez testified Thursday that it took seven staples to close the wound in her head. She also suffered gashes to her arms and leg.
The video also shows Navarro on top of McNew striking him with the shovel. Another clip shows Navarro going into the southeast Fresno home to grab a knife that he used to stab McNew.
McNew’s mother Joy Lang McNew was at Friday’s hearing. She began to cry when Navarro pleaded “no contest”.
She said both men grew up together and went to the same high school, McLane.
“He (Navarro) used to call me mom when he was younger,” she said after the hearing. “It is so hard to see your son’s childhood friend sitting there.”
She described her son as someone with a big personality.
“When Devin was in the room, you knew it,” she said. “You either wanted to get out of the room because he annoyed you, or you wanted to go hang out and see what he was going to do next.”
Her son was in the Army National Guard and served a nine-month mission in Poland that changed the trajectory of his life.
“When he came back, he was ready to start a life, and he was ready to start a life with her (Marquez),” she said. “He was changing and reflecting. He went to school and got his trucking certificate. He had a career and a path lined out, and he had his love.”
McNew doesn’t know what prompted the fight between her son and his friend.
According to court testimony, Navarro and Marquez had recently broken up after a 10-year relationship. They also had a child together.
Although they had been friends for more than a decade, Marquez began a romantic relationship with McNew after she and Navarro split.
During her testimony, Marquez said Navarro did not take the break-up well and would often drive by her apartment or leave items on her balcony. To get him to stop, she agreed to have sex with him, she testified.
She told McNew about it and he was upset. But he understood why she did it, she testified.
Navarro, however, didn’t know she was dating McNew. That secret may have been revealed on July 29, 2024, when Marquez and McNew were dropping off some of Navarro’s furniture to his southeast Fresno home near East Balch and South Callisch avenues.
That day McNew and Navarro were unloading furniture from McNew’s truck into the garage when Marquez heard a commotion.
The two men began fighting. Navarro gained the upper hand after grabbing a shovel and knife and using it against McNew, who died at the hospital.
Scott Baly, who along with attorney Margarita Martinez-Baly defended Navarro, said after the hearing that he doesn’t know what triggered the violence.
“I think if he were to testify, he would say something. He would say that yeah, ‘I didn’t know, and he made a comment to me,’ ” Baly said. “We do know that Devin was ready to fight. Marquez testified to that.”
The Fresno Bee
A Valley native, Robert has worked at The Fresno Bee since 1994, covering various topics including education, business, courts and agriculture.