MD-Charge changes to first-degree murder, Rockville stabbing
Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010
Charge changes to first-degree murder in Rockville stabbing
Judge: Defendant must remain at Montgomery County Detention Center without bond
By Nathan Carrick and Melissa J. Brachfeld
The charges against a Rockville man accused of fatally stabbing his roommate on Christmas Day have been upgraded to first-degree murder and he remains held without bond at the county Detention Center in Rockville.
Miguel Angel Rodriguez-Lainez appeared via video screen in Montgomery County District Court in Rockville today as Assistant State's Attorney John Lalos changed the second-degree murder charge to the more serious first-degree charge.
Rodriguez-Lainez is represented by a public defender, Michael Gambrill, who could not immediately be reached for comment.
Lalos said he did not want to comment further on the case.
Rodriguez-Lainez and his roommate, 25-year-old Manuel Oscar Martinez, got into an argument that turned physical and ended with Martinez being stabbed several times at about 3:20 a.m. Dec. 25, said Cpl. Dan Friz, a Montgomery County Police spokesman. Rodriguez-Lainez ran from the house in the 200 block of Frederick Avenue in Rockville before police arrived, he said.
Lalos said in the courtroom it appeared that after Rodriquez-Lainez and Martinez got into the argument, Martinez and another person left the house. When the two returned, Rodriguez-Lainez was "waiting to ambush the victim in the house," Lalos said.
Another roommate called for help.
Martinez was pronounced dead at the scene, Friz said. An autopsy by the Chief Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death a homicide, he said.
After a several-day search, Rodriguez-Lainez was arrested last week in St. Michaels in Talbot County, where he made a "statement of admission to having stabbed the victim," Lalos said.
The maximum penalty for first-degree murder in Maryland is death.
Rodriguez-Lainez spoke briefly in court in Spanish with the help of an interpreter. After the no-bond status was handed down by Judge Gary G. Everngam, Rodriguez-Lainez attempted to speak, but Gambrill told the interpreter to tell him to stop talking.
Rodriguez-Lainez will have a preliminary hearing on Jan. 29, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement proceedings are pending.
Gary Britton, records coordinator at the Montgomery County Detention Center in Rockville, confirmed Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on Rodriguez-Lainez.
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