Man with previous arson, manslaughter convictions makes SF court appearance
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - A man who was previously convicted of involuntary manslaughter and arson appeared in San Francisco Superior court today for a motion to have his probation revoked following a recent arrest in which he assaulted another man Tuesday.
This morning, a judge scheduled a hearing for Thursday to revoke probation for 27-year-old David Munoz Diaz and ordered him to remain in custody.
Diaz had been out of jail since September. He had previously been sentenced to one year of mandatory supervision after pleading guilty to felony possession of an incendiary device and commercial burglary in connection with the January 2015 arson of a bar in the city's Castro District.
On Tuesday, however, Diaz was again arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, felony false imprisonment, felony mayhem, felony battery causing serious bodily injury, misdemeanor impersonation of a police officer and probation violation, according to police and jail records.
In that incident, at around 4:55 a.m., Diaz allegedly walked up to a 45-year-old man who was sitting in a car near Folsom and Harriet streets.
Diaz shined a flashlight at the victim and told him to get out of the car.
When the victim got out, he and Diaz got into a fight, according to police.
Both men suffered injuries not considered life-threatening, police said.
During the fight, Diaz allegedly bit the victim's head and officers at the scene later recovered a piece of the victim's scalp, prosecutors said in court this morning as they argued for him to remain in custody.
Charges in that incident however have not yet been filed, according to prosecutors.
Diaz was also previously convicted in 2014 of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 23-year-old Freddy Roberto Canul-Arguello, whose body was found burning in Buena Vista Park on June 10, 2011.
Jurors acquitted Diaz of murder but convicted him on the lesser charge after defense attorneys argued he had choked Canul-Arguello at the other man's request during a sex act in the park and accidentally asphyxiated him.
Diaz then burned the body, leaving it in a blue recycling bin near the park's tennis courts.
Diaz was sentenced in that case to four years in prison, but because he had served more than three years while awaiting trial he was released shortly after his sentencing date.