A 43-year-old convicted felon was charged Tuesday with fatally stabbing a man and attacking a woman in a Santa Ana shopping center.
Justin Anthony Carlin was charged with murder and two counts of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, all felonies, with sentencing enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury and the personal use of a deadly weapon.
Carlin is accused of killing 43-year-old transient Noah William Ewing on Sunday.
Officers were called to a McDonald’s parking lot at 3810 S. Bristol St. about 3 p.m. Sunday, police said. Ewing, who had been stabbed, was rushed to an area hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
During the investigation of what happened, police found a woman who was allegedly assaulted by the defendant in the same shopping center, police said. She told police she was punched multiple times in an unprovoked assault.
The woman had no connection to Ewing, police said.
According to the criminal complaint, Carlin is also accused of attacking another man.
Carlin did not enter a plea at his arraignment Tuesday. The hearing was rescheduled for Jan. 31 in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.
Carlin has a lengthy criminal history that includes numerous instances of violating probation and terms of release as well as unprovoked attacks, according to court records.
Carlin pleaded guilty in September 2015 to a felony count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and misdemeanor counts of assault and battery. In a probation violation petition he was accused in that case of attacking his sister in their home Aug. 30, 2015.
As he was shouting obscenities at his parents because he was angry his brother was taking over the family business, his sister picked up a hammer, prompting the defendant to “charge” her before he “pushed his sister down and began kicking her in the head and back,” according to the probation violation petition. He left the house when his mother slammed a lamp over his head to get him to stop, according to probation officials.
At the time, he tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana use, which violated his terms of probation, authorities said in court papers.
Carlin was on probation after pleading guilty in June of 2014 to robbery and taking property from another, according to court records.
Carlin pleaded guilty to a felony count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury in September 2019 and was sentenced to four years in prison. In that case, he was accused of attacking two victims near a bus stop in Santa Ana on Dec. 20, 2018, according to court records.
“According to the first victim, the offender asked him for a cigarette and he replied he didn’t have cigarettes,” according to a post-release violation petition. “The offender then walked behind him and punched him in the back of his head, causing him to fall to the ground. The offender then picked up the victim’s cigarette.”
The other victim told police the defendant sat next to him at the bus bench, “mumbled something, got up and then punched him repeatedly for unknown reasons,” according to the petition.