An Española man who allegedly stabbed his co-worker at Denny’s will be held without bail pending trial, after a judge found him to be a danger to the community.
District Judge Anastasia Martin ordered Tobias Romero, 23, held without bail and bound him over on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, with a variance for attempted first degree murder, following a combined dangerousness and pre-trial hearing on Nov. 17, First Judicial District Attorney’s Office Spokeswoman Catherine Lynch wrote in an email.
Española City Police Detective Dominic Ellis charged Romero following the stabbing on Oct. 30. Romero turned himself in to police after the incident.
The victim described in court documents as a dishwasher, was flown to Albuquerque because of the severity of his wounds.
In the order holding Romero without bail filed Nov. 19, Martin wrote that the victim required surgery and that video presented to her “does not show any provocation leading to the stabbing.”
“This incident occurred at work, a pace (sic) of business, where employees should be able to go through their duties without the fear of violence,” she wrote.
The evidence against Romero is strong, including witness statements that the victim said he had been stabbed and gestured toward the kitchen, where Romero was, while video from that area showed him and Romero in the area, “something occurring, and the Defendant running from the area,” Martin wrote.
Motive, initially missing, appears to have been provided during the hearing, she wrote.
“The testimony of the Defendant’s mother regarding an incident the evening prior to the stabbing, between the victim and the Defendant, provided evidence of motive and deliberation,” Martin wrote.
Romero has a “significant” criminal history, with 11 cases filed since 2019, she wrote.
In one past case, dismissed by prosecutors as part of a global plea deal, Romero was initially charged with aggravated battery and breaking and entering for being inside a vacant Española house and then attacking an employee of the homeowner. That employee never saw Romero actually inside the house or leave the house, but confronted him, yelled at him and told him to “wait for the cops,” according to court records.
Romero has a history of violent attacks with a knife, she wrote.
Romero’s attorney argued that his behavior may have been reactive and that he may have been provoked, Martin wrote.
“Electronic Monitory (sic) is insufficient to address even the Defendant’s reactive violent behavior,” she wrote. “This Court has no belief that the Defendant will follow court orders.”
Romero was on probation at the time of the attack and three recent cases filed against him involved the use or threat of knives, she wrote.
“It is clear that the Defendant has no problem using a knife against another,” Martin wrote.
The only factor she had to consider that was in favor of his release, was that a court has never previously ordered him held without bail, she wrote.
The Stabbing
A head chef told Ellis she arrived for her shift at 3 p.m. and was greeted by Romero and the victim, a dishwasher who started working there less than a month prior, Ellis wrote in an affidavit for an arrest warrant.
After getting coffee, she saw the dishwasher emerge from the kitchen, holding his stomach and stating “the dishwasher stabbed me” as Romero ran toward a rear exit. She took him to the women’s bathroom, put pressure on his wound and got another waitress to get him into her car so she could take him to the hospital, before ordering employees to clean up the blood “due to ongoing restaurant operations,” Ellis wrote.
At the hospital, staff told Ellis that the man had a “deep stab wound to the left abdomen with initial hemodynamic instability,” so they intubated him and prepared to transfer him to The University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, the state’s trauma hospital.