Bail was halved Tuesday to $1 million for a 31-year-old felon charged in the stabbing death of a man in Anaheim last week.
James Robertson Fraser was charged Monday with murder with a sentencing enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon. His arraignment was rescheduled to April 10.
Fraser has prior strike convictions in 2005 for assault with a deadly weapon — namely a motor vehicle — domestic violence, evading police, possession of a gun with a prior conviction, all felonies, as well as misdemeanors for hit-and-run with property damage and unlawful entry of a residence, according to court records.
He was again convicted of assault with a deadly weapon with force likely to produce great bodily injury in 2009. In addition he pleaded guilty to evading police, a felony, and misdemeanors for hit-and-run with property damage, resisting arrest, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and being under the influence of a controlled substance, court records show.
Those prior strikes will factor into his punishment if he is convicted of fatally stabbing 26-year-old Pedro Francisco Toro last Wednesday at a home in the 1500 block of Edithia Avenue.
An Anaheim officer spotted a motorist driving erratically near Loara Street and Broadway about 8:40 a.m. that day and attempted to make a traffic stop, according to Anaheim police Lt. Eric Trapp.
The driver — a woman who was trying to get the victim to a hospital — eventually pulled over at Loara and Lincoln Avenue.
When the driver pulled over, the officer noticed the wounded man in the passenger seat. Paramedics took Toro to UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, where he was pronounced dead, Trapp said.
The motive for the stabbing was unclear, according to McGreevy, who described the defendant and Toro as acquaintances.
— City News Service