Stabbing suspect pleads not guilty to Coachella attack

A parolee who allegedly stabbed a man and woman in Coachella last fall pleaded not guilty today to attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon charges.

Fernando Marquez Ramirez, 30, is being held in lieu of $2 million bail in connection with the Oct. 14 stabbings that occurred outside the defendant’s home in the 52300 block of Las Palmas Street.

A 30-year-old Thermal resident who was stabbed in the left side was admitted to a hospital in critical condition, and a 28-year-old Coachella woman was treated and released. The man’s injuries included a collapsed lung, according to an arrest warrant declaration.

A parole violation report says the unnamed victims were in Coachella to help a friend look for his stolen bicycle. They drove into the city and stopped on Las Palmas Street just before 3 a.m. because a bicycle resembling the stolen one was seen in the front yard of a home.

While there, according to a witness account cited in the report, Ramirez approached the victim’s car and said, “Don’t be going up and down the street. This is my street.”

Ramirez and the male victim began fighting, and the female victim tried to intervene, according to the report, which alleges both victims were stabbed by Ramirez but managed to flee in their car and stop at a nearby gas station to call police.

Investigating deputies found Ramirez at his home with dried blood and scratches on his face, the declaration alleges. A four-inch folding knife was found inside a clothes hamper in his bedroom, with what appeared to be blood on the blade and handle, according to the declaration.

Ramirez told deputies that he had been involved in a fight with two men at his mother’s house, located elsewhere in Coachella, and denied fighting anyone in front of the Las Palmas home, the declaration says.

Ramirez was arrested that morning, but was not immediately charged with the stabbings. He was held on a parole violation, to which he pleaded guilty in December and was sentenced to six months in county jail, but was released in January on parole supervision, court records show.

Sheriff’s deputies picked him up last week on Highway 111 in Palm Desert.

Ramirez was previously convicted in March 2017 of attempted carjacking and resisting arrest and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. However, after earning more than two years of credit time served in county jail to that point, he was released on parole on the date of his conviction, court records show.

He is due back in court March 7 for a felony settlement conference.