A ruling is expected Wednesday on whether a parolee accused of fatally stabbing an Indio man will be ordered to stand trial on a murder charge.
Vicente Angel Munoz, 29, is suspected of killing Maurice Brock, 27, of Indio on March 14, 2020.
Along with the murder count, Munoz faces sentence-enhancing allegations of using a knife during the commission of a felony and committing a serious felony.
He is scheduled to appear Wednesday morning at the Larson Justice Center in Indio for a preliminary hearing in which prosecutors present evidence that a judge uses to determine whether a trial is warranted.
A Riverside County District Attorney’s Office spokesman said Tuesday that the hearing is likely to go forward as planned.
Munoz allegedly got into a fight with the victim — what triggered the brawl was unclear — and stabbed him about 12:55 a.m. near Jefferson Street and Highway 111. Arriving Indio police officers found Brock lying on the ground in front of a Circle K store. He died at JFK Memorial Hospital about an hour later.
Detectives did not say how they identified Munoz as a suspect, and the relationship between the suspect and victim, if any, was unclear.
Munoz, who’s being held on $1 million bail at the Benoit Detention Center in Indio, has a prior felony burglary conviction in Riverside County.