A Contra Costa County judge appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom freed a Venezuelan national from custody just 24 hours before he allegedly stabbed a 68-year-old California retiree to death outside the man's own home.
Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, 36, had already violated the terms of his pretrial home detention in a separate burglary case when Superior Court Judge Nichelle Holmes dismissed him from that case on August 5, 2024. The next day, according to police, Iriarte-Valdez allegedly attacked Todd Stewart during what investigators described as an attempted burglary at the Martinez, California, home where Stewart had lived for more than 30 years. Stewart did not survive.
Police arrested Iriarte-Valdez on Friday evening in connection with Stewart's death. The case has since become a flashpoint in the long-running clash between California's sanctuary policies and federal immigration enforcement, and it has put a sharp spotlight on the judicial philosophy of the woman who signed the release order.
Holmes, whom Newsom appointed to the Contra Costa Superior Court bench in 2024, had ordered Iriarte-Valdez released on his own recognizance on August 5. That order came even though Iriarte-Valdez had already broken the conditions of his pretrial home detention in a prior burglary case. Holmes permitted him to remain in the community and then dismissed him from the case entirely.
One day later, Stewart was dead.
Surveillance footage described by the New York Post allegedly shows Iriarte-Valdez arriving at Stewart's home in a Cadillac SUV, attacking Stewart on the sidewalk, and continuing to stab him after he fell. Stewart, a retiree who had spent more than three decades at the same address, was 68 years old.
The Department of Homeland Security had placed an immigration detainer on Iriarte-Valdez months earlier, on September 23, 2025, flagging him for federal authorities. DHS initially called Iriarte-Valdez an "illegal alien" in a social media post but later stated he had been "legally admitted" to the United States in 2007. The agency did not respond to a follow-up request for clarification on his current immigration status. He is described as holding both Venezuelan nationality and Spanish citizenship.
Holmes did not respond to a request for comment on the release order. But a 2017 alumni interview with the University of San Francisco School of Law, her alma mater, where she graduated in 2010, offers a window into how she views her role on the bench. Before her appointment, Holmes spent roughly 12 years as a deputy district attorney in Contra Costa County, including four years in the Domestic Violence Unit.
In that interview, Fox News Digital reported, Holmes described her judicial philosophy in terms that now read very differently in light of the Stewart case:
"Coming to work every day and ensuring that justice is served is my way of protesting. Justice does not always mean a prison sentence. Sometimes it means a treatment program, or intensive counseling, and sometimes it means a dismissal."
She also said she chose "to advocate for the victims and be their voice to make the process just a little easier" and "to make my community a safer place for everyone."
Todd Stewart's family might have a different view of how safe their community turned out to be. Holmes chose a dismissal. The day after that dismissal, a man she freed allegedly drove to a retiree's home and stabbed him to death on the sidewalk.
The federal response was swift and blunt. DHS issued a public demand that Newsom turn Iriarte-Valdez over to federal custody.
Breitbart reported that DHS posted on social media:
"This Venezuelan illegal alien STABBED A FATHER TO DEATH in sanctuary California. @CAgovernor must NOT RELEASE this murderer from jail and turn him over to us so we can REMOVE him from our nation."
In a separate statement, DHS said: "Sanctuary politicians must stop putting politics above public safety. This type of insanity leads to more crimes and more innocent victims."
Tom Homan, the Trump administration's border czar, put the blame squarely on Sacramento. As the Fox News report on the charges noted, Homan said Stewart was dead "because Governor Newsom and the state of California puts politics, hatred of President Trump, over public safety."
The governor's office declined to address Holmes' specific decision to release Iriarte-Valdez. An unnamed spokesperson offered a statement that shifted responsibility to the federal government:
"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 should do their job instead of blaming California for ICE's enforcement failures."
That framing sidesteps a central fact: it was not ICE that released Iriarte-Valdez. It was a state court judge, appointed by Newsom, who dismissed a case against a man who had already violated his pretrial conditions, despite DHS having placed a detainer on him months before. The federal government flagged him. The state let him walk.
Republican Assemblymember David Tangipa of Fresno told Fox News Digital on Thursday that Stewart "should be alive today."
"This murder was 100% preventable if we just enforced the laws currently in place. But Governor Newsom's garbage sanctuary laws and activist judges are leading to the death of Americans. Californians deserve a justice system that protects innocent Americans first."
Tangipa's language is sharp, but the underlying sequence of events is not in dispute. Iriarte-Valdez faced burglary charges. He violated his home detention. A judge dismissed the case and released him. The next day, a 68-year-old man was allegedly stabbed to death in front of his own home.
Several critical details remain unclear. What specific burglary charge brought Iriarte-Valdez before Holmes in the first place, and when was he originally arrested? What were the exact terms of his home detention, and how did he violate them? What charges has he now been booked on in connection with Stewart's death? And what, precisely, is his current immigration status, given that DHS first called him an "illegal alien" and then said he was "legally admitted" in 2007, without resolving the contradiction?
Holmes has not spoken publicly. Newsom's office will not discuss her decision. DHS has not clarified its own conflicting statements about the suspect's status.
What is clear is the result. A judge who once said justice "sometimes means a dismissal" dismissed a case against a man the federal government had already flagged. And a retiree who spent more than 30 years in the same home never made it back inside.
When the system treats a dismissal as justice, someone else pays the price. Todd Stewart paid with his life.
