Morgan Hill man to stand trial for attempted murder

SANTA CRUZ — A judge held a Morgan Hill man to answer Thursday on a charge of attempted murder in a 2023 jailhouse gang shanking.

Matthew Madriz Alcaraz, 20, who had been jailed in a separate Watsonville murder case since 2022, has been charged with seriously injuring a fellow inmate on the evening of June 26. The two men were both being held in an active Norteño gang unit of the Santa Cruz County Jail at the time, according to testimony.

After a three-day preliminary hearing, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Stephen Siegel confirmed that there was sufficient evidence to move forward to trial, with Madriz facing additional felony charges of participating in criminal street gang activity and assault with a deadly weapon, plus additional related enhancements.

Two other co-defendants charged in the case, Leo Rueda and Adrian Ortiz, took earlier plea deals and are not expected to go to trial on their charges.

On Monday, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office deputy August Waltrip testified that he had reviewed jail surveillance and corrections officers’ body-worn camera footage after the stabbing. He said he observed footage of Madriz and Ortiz entering a cell with a third man and partially closing the cell door for about 15 minutes on the evening of June 26.

After the victim apparently was able to push an intercom button inside the cell to alert authorities, he was found with a throat incision near his Adam’s apple, both eyes nearly swollen shut, additional lacerations and was bleeding significantly, according to Waltrip’s testimony. Fellow inmate Madriz had suffered a small facial scratch and light hand swelling, while Ortiz’s hands were “extremely bruised and swollen,” with lacerations to his fingers and blood on his hand, Waltrip said.

In his review of the cell after the attack, Waltrip described seeing “an enormous amount of blood.”

“There was absolutely blood everywhere. Facing the actual cell door, on the left-hand side, you can see bloody handprints walking the walk as if someone was pushing themselves off of it and trying to stay on their feet,” Waltrip said. “Puddles of blood in between the bunk and the little chair that’s where they sit. And then the whole bunk itself was covered with spear marks of blood.”

Earlier, Rueda testified that the victim had told him he had been put on a “freeze” or gang-initiated investigation for making complaints to outside gang authorities about how the gang operated inside the jail. Rueda was among the group of inmates allowed out of their cells for a recreational hour at the same time as Ortiz, Madriz and the victim. Rueda, who was only temporarily housed at the Santa Cruz jail to conclude court proceedings before he was to be sent back to prison, said he was approached to serve as a guard for the gang’s “removal” or punishment of the victim.

Madriz is scheduled to return to court for arraignment on the information July 25.