IDA GROVE, Iowa -- A Galva, Iowa, man accused of fatally stabbing his brother has been formally charged with murder.
Ida County Attorney Meghann Cosgrove Whitmer and Assistant Iowa Attorney General Keisha Cretsinger on Tuesday filed a trial information charging Jesus Diaz with first-degree murder.
Diaz
His arraignment was scheduled for Dec. 12 in Ida County District Court. He remains in custody in the Ida County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
Diaz, 24, is accused of killing his brother, 26-year-old Eduardo Diaz III, of Holstein, on Nov. 13.
Ida County Sheriff's deputies responding to a call about a fight in progress in Galva found Eduardo Diaz lying on a sidewalk in the 200 block of South Main Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene.Â
According to court documents, the brothers were fighting outside Jesus Diaz' home at that address when Jesus Diaz stabbed his brother multiple times in his chest and abdomen.
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Witnesses saw Jesus Diaz punching and kicking his brother's unresponsive body, before crossing the street, then returning and resuming beating the body, court documents said.
The trial information gave no new details into the incident, but quoted Iowa code saying Jesus Diaz with "malice aforethought, willfully, deliberately and with premeditation" killed Eduardo Diaz.
Jesus Diaz was seen placing items in his Cadillac after the stabbing, and investigators searching the car found a bloody knife in the rear seat, court documents said.
Jesus Diaz was treated at Horn Memorial Hospital in Ida Grove for non-life-threatening injuries before he was jailed.
If found guilty of first-degree murder, Diaz would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
Nick Hytrek
Court Reporter
Hytrek has been at the Journal since 1998, covering courts for much of that time. He is a Nebraska native and University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate.
