Case Explained: Criminal defense attorney weighs in on legal justifications of Christmas stabbing – Legal Perspective

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (KUTV) — A criminal defense attorney discussed whether or not the Christmas morning stabbing could be considered self-defense.

Fabiola Lara, 39, was accused of murdering her boyfriend after her adult son caught him taking leggings off her 11-year-old female relative.

She reportedly stabbed Jose Humberto Alvarado, 45, in the garage with a kitchen knife. He was found dead on a sidewalk a few hours later.

MORE | Christmas Stabbing: Woman accused of murdering boyfriend in West Valley neighborhood on Christmas morning

A home surveillance camera caught Lara stabbing Alvarado multiple times and showed him leaving the garage on foot, bleeding heavily.

Skye Lazaro, a criminal defense attorney who is not affiliated with this case, said, “This is one of those types of situations that evokes a lot of emotions from people.”

After 2News got thousands of comments on our initial report, we asked Lazaro if self-defense could be a legal justification.

“What self-defense requires is that there is a perceived danger — someone is doing something or committing a felony, which a sexual assault would be one of those felonies that you could use deadly force to defend yourself or someone else against — but there has to be an immediacy of the threat,” Lazaro said. “Which means it has to either be happening or it’s about to happen. We don’t get to be vigilantes and say it was self-defense.”

Lazaro said that if Lara had walked in on the reported assault herself and stabbed him to try to stop it, it could be a valid defense claim.

“Confronting someone sometime after does not necessarily qualify you for self-defense justification,” Lazaro said.

2News also asked Lazaro how the alleged sexual assault will play into the case, since the accused is dead.

“Whether or not that was true or not true I don’t think bears a lot on this case, really. What it’s going to come down to is what happened in that garage when she confronted him and how that conversation went,” Lazaro said.

She said the most important piece for a defense team would be looking at that surveillance video of the stabbing.

“Is there something the defense can lean on in that video or out of that altercation in terms of defending her?” Lazaro asked.

She also said that the manner and time of death could play a role in the case.

“In order to establish murder, or convict her of murder down the road or even charge her with murder, they’re going to have to show by at least a probable cause standard in the beginning, that she stabbed him and that is ultimately what killed him,” Lazaro said. “The fact that he left and then ultimately passed away in a different location will be relevant and will have to be explained by a medical examiner or other expert.”

“You may get jurors who will say, ‘Hey, look, you know, maybe it wasn’t self-defense by the law, but we stand behind that,'” Lazaro continued. “This is one of those cases that can kind of tug on the heartstrings.”

Lazaro said the state has four business days to file charges against Lara and can hold her on a no-bail warrant until then. Lara is being held at the Salt Lake County Metro Jail.

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