EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 An El Paso man charged with murdering his grandfather in 2022 will no longer face trial after the charge was dismissed on Tuesday, but has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in an unrelated aggravated assault case from 2018, according to court records.<\/p>\n
Court records obtained by KFOX14\/CBS4 show 28-year-old Kevin Robles had his murder charge dismissed on Tuesday in connection with the death of his grandfather, 81-year-old Juan Julian Macias Salas.<\/p>\n
As KFOX14\/CBS4 previously reported, Robles was arrested and charged with murder in December 2022 after he was accused of stabbing Salas to death with a fork.<\/p>\n
The dismissal comes on the same day Robles was sentenced to 10 years in jail for a separate aggravated assault case stemming from 2018, according to court records. <\/p>\n
In that earlier case, police documents, obtained by KFOX14\/CBS4, said officers responded to an apartment complex in the lower valley after a man later identified as Robles allegedly stabbed a man multiple times in April 2018. Robles was previously sentenced to 10 years of probation in March 2019 in that case.<\/p>\n
However, on Tuesday, Robles’ probation sentence was revoked as he had violated the terms of his probation and was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison. <\/p>\n
In a statement to KFOX14\/CBS4, the El Paso District Attorney’s Office said the murder charge was dismissed because evidence had weakened and a key witness became unavailable. <\/p>\n
“Since December 2022, the strength of evidence against the Defendant has deteriorated significantly. The court excluded the Defendant’s recorded statement, and the key witness became unavailable. After assessing the current state of the admissible evidence, our Office determined that we could no longer prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. However, the Defendant’s probation was revoked in an unrelated 2018 case, and he was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment,” the El Paso District Attorney’s Office said. <\/p>\n
What Happened in 2018? <\/p>\n
According to a complaint affidavit, obtained by KFOX14\/CBS4, officers were called around 8:41 p.m. on April 8, 2018, to an apartment complex at 8041 North Loop Ave. Witnesses reported seeing a man, identified as then 20-year-old Robles, assault the victim for an unknown reason, police said.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old victim was taken to a hospital with multiple stab wounds. He later told investigators that Robles, whom he had known for years, returned to his apartment and attacked him without explanation, stabbing him several times in the chest and upper torso.<\/p>\n
The victim reported suffering four puncture wounds and said he wanted to pursue charges, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n
What Happened in 2022? <\/p>\n
On Dec. 13, 2022, officers responded to a 911 call for an aggravated assault at the 300 block of Colmillo in the Lower Valley. <\/p>\n
According to an arrest report previously obtained by KFOX14\/CBS4, when medical crews arrived at the home, they found Macias Salas with blood on his face and neck stab wounds.<\/p>\n
Police said they received a 911 call from Robles’ father, who told dispatch that he received a phone call from Robles asking for a ride home from the convenience store because he had attacked his grandfather. <\/p>\n
Robles, who was 25-years-old at the time, was living with his parents and his grandfather in the same home, according to the arrest affidavit. <\/p>\n
Police documents state Robles told police that he was feeling agitated in the middle of the night and sandpapered a fork into a knife. <\/p>\n
Robles then stated he was hearing voices telling him to ” kill someone or to kill himself,” the affidavit stated.<\/p>\n
Robles told investigators that during his agitation he went into the victim’s room and “laid hands on him” and used the fork instead of a knife because he did not want the wounds to be too big, the report states.<\/p>\n
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