A 68-year-old Martinez, California, retiree is dead, allegedly stabbed by an illegal immigrant who walked out of jail on a judge's order just one day earlier, and now the Department of Homeland Security is demanding the state hand the suspect over.
Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, a 36-year-old Venezuelan national who also holds Spanish citizenship, was arrested and charged with murder after prosecutors say he killed Todd Stewart outside Stewart's home during an attempted burglary. Stewart, who had lived on his street for roughly 40 years, encountered Iriarte-Valdez in his garage. Prosecutors say the suspect tried to flee, then stabbed Stewart to death. Fox News Digital reported the sequence that led to the killing: Iriarte-Valdez had been arrested earlier that week for allegedly violating a condition of home detention tied to prior burglary charges. An unnamed Contra Costa County Superior Court judge then ordered him released on his own recognizance, meaning no bail, no bond, no ankle monitor, on Wednesday. By Thursday, Stewart was dead.
The timeline alone tells a damning story about the consequences of a release decision that put a man with an extensive criminal record back on the street in a matter of hours.
Iriarte-Valdez was no stranger to law enforcement. DHS told Fox News Digital that his rap sheet includes murder, inflicting corporal injury on a spouse, three counts of burglary, receiving known stolen property, trespassing, entering a non-commercial dwelling, loitering, and a conviction for violating a court-ordered protective order. The murder charge and several others stem from the current case, but the protective-order conviction and domestic violence allegation predate the killing.
Back in April, Iriarte-Valdez had been charged in connection with burglaries at occupied homes in Contra Costa County, the suburban stretch of the Bay Area just east of San Francisco. One homeowner told Fox's San Francisco affiliate, KTVU, that his 83-year-old wife saw the intruder's reflection and screamed. The homeowner recalled his wife's reaction: "and I think he took off."
That homeowner, whose name was not published, expressed a kind of resigned bewilderment at the judge's decision to release Iriarte-Valdez without bail. He told KTVU:
"The judge uses his discretion or her discretion. I don't know who the judge was, so, you know, who am I to argue?"
Most people would argue. A suspect charged with breaking into homes where elderly residents were present, arrested again for violating home detention, and then turned loose without bail, that sequence demands an explanation the court has not provided. Fox News Digital reached out to the Contra Costa Superior Court, the Martinez Police Department, and District Attorney Diana Becton's office. None of the three provided a response.
The judge who signed the release order could not be reached for comment. The identity of that judge has not been made public. In a related account of the same case, the focus fell squarely on how a judicial release decision led directly to a retiree's death.
DHS placed an immigration detainer on Iriarte-Valdez on September 23, 2025, formally requesting that state or local authorities hold him for transfer to federal custody. The department's public demand went further. DHS tweeted that California Governor Gavin Newsom "must not release this murderer from jail and turn him over to us so we can REMOVE him from our nation."
Iriarte-Valdez was legally admitted to the United States during the George W. Bush administration, but DHS now classifies him as an illegal immigrant. The specifics of how his legal status changed, whether through visa expiration, a criminal conviction, or another mechanism, were not detailed in available reporting.
A DHS spokesperson laid the blame on sanctuary policies in a statement to Fox News Digital:
"The safest way to arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens from our streets is by lodging arrest detainers. Because sanctuary cities refuse to work with ICE law enforcement, criminal illegal aliens are released from jails into American communities to perpetuate more crimes. Seven of the top 10 safest cities in the United States cooperate with ICE."
The spokesperson added that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin continues to target what the department calls the "worst of the worst." The broader federal posture is clear: DHS views California's refusal to honor detainers as a direct contributor to violent crime. That argument gains force when a man with active burglary charges, a protective-order conviction, and a domestic violence allegation walks out of a county jail and allegedly kills someone the next day.
Incidents involving federal immigration enforcement and violent encounters have drawn increasing scrutiny nationwide, but the Martinez case stands apart because the killing allegedly followed a preventable release.
Governor Newsom's chief deputy director of communications, Diana Crofts-Pelayo, responded to the DHS demand with a statement that acknowledged the gravity of the charges but pivoted to blaming federal enforcement. She told Fox News Digital:
"This individual should face justice for his alleged crime. California takes public safety seriously, and nothing in California law prevents federal authorities from enforcing federal immigration law. The federal government has billions of dollars and substantial resources to enforce federal law, they do their job instead of blaming California for ICE's enforcement failures."
The statement is revealing for what it does not say. Crofts-Pelayo did not address the judge's release decision. She did not explain why a man with Iriarte-Valdez's record was freed without bail. She did not say whether the state intends to honor the DHS detainer. And she framed the entire episode as an "ICE enforcement failure", even though ICE filed the detainer and it was a state court that opened the jail door.
California's sanctuary framework limits how much local and state law enforcement can cooperate with federal immigration authorities. DHS argues that framework puts communities at risk. Newsom's office argues the feds have their own tools and should use them. Todd Stewart is not around to weigh in on the policy debate.
Controversies over judicial release decisions and their consequences are not confined to California. A recent case involving a federal judge who released a convicted hijacker from ICE custody drew similar questions about accountability when courts override enforcement priorities.
Contra Costa County prosecutors are not treating this as a routine homicide. They added three sentencing enhancements to the murder charge: a special circumstance alleging the murder occurred during or immediately after a burglary, personal use of a deadly weapon, a knife, and committing the offense while released on bail or his own recognizance. That third enhancement is a direct reference to the judge's release order.
Iriarte-Valdez was arrested Friday evening after investigators used automated license plate recognition technology and community tips to track him down. He pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail. His next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday, September 1. The New York Post reported that bail has since been set at $1.1 million.
DHS also stated that Iriarte-Valdez faces additional charges beyond the murder, including the three burglary counts, receiving known stolen property, trespassing, and the domestic violence-related charges. The full scope of his criminal history, and how much of it was known to the judge who released him, remains an open question no one in California's justice system has answered publicly.
Security failures and enforcement gaps at every level of government have become a recurring theme in recent months, from alleged plots against high-profile events to local release decisions that end in tragedy.
Stewart, 68, was a retiree who had spent roughly 40 years in his Martinez neighborhood. He was not a public figure, a politician, or an activist. He was a man who walked out to his garage and encountered someone who, prosecutors say, should never have been free to be there.
The gap between what California's system did, release a repeat offender without bail, and what happened next is not a matter of hindsight. The risk was visible in the charges, in the protective-order violation, in the home-detention breach. A judge looked at that record and sent Iriarte-Valdez home anyway. One day later, a 68-year-old man who had done nothing wrong was dead in his own neighborhood.
When the system fails this plainly, the people who run it owe the public more than a press statement blaming someone else.
