Guilty verdict in Santa Rosa homeless man’s murder

A Santa Rosa homeless man was found guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder in a Christmas Eve slaying of another homeless man outside the downtown library.

Vladimir Sotelo-Urena, 26, was convicted of stabbing to death Nicholas Bloom, 22, plunging a kitchen knife into his neck and torso up to 80 times.

Bloom’s family members wept in the courtroom gallery as a clerk announced the jury’s verdict.

“I think there is a God,” said Bloom’s mother, Cindy Ray, of Redding. “It is true and correct. He was slaughtered.”

Sotelo-Urena’s lawyers argued he acted in self-defense when Bloom, who was high on methamphetamine, confronted him. The former Las Vegas resident had been attacked a month earlier and bought a knife at a grocery store for his protection, his lawyers said.

But jurors deliberated a little more than a day before finding him guilty of murder. One juror who spoke outside court said he was persuaded by the fact that Sotelo-Urena chased the unarmed Bloom about 135 feet across a parking lot and ignored his pleas to stop.

“Even with the begging and knowing he had the upper hand, he continued the attack,” said the juror, Ray Dorfman of Santa Rosa. “We really didn’t feel this was a self-defense case by any means.”

Sotelo-Urena showed no emotion when the verdict was read. He will be sentenced Nov. 11 to a mandatory 26-years-to-life punishment.

Prosecutors said Sotelo-Urena attacked Bloom, a Montgomery High School graduate, when he became enraged during a conversation that started when Bloom asked him for a cigarette.

He pulled a 10-inch knife from a bag and pursued Bloom about 40 yards as Bloom shouted for him to stop, according to testimony.

When he got close enough, Sotelo-Urena grabbed Bloom’s clothes and plunged the knife into his neck, shoulder and torso, witnesses said.

He later told police he struck out of fear Bloom was reaching for a weapon.

But Bloom was unarmed. Police found a tube of lip balm and a $20 bill in his outstretched arm.

Other bills and his wallet were found on the ground nearby.

Prosecutor Bob Waner said Bloom may have been trying to offer Soleto-Urena money to stop attacking him.

Waner said Sotelo-Urena appeared to be driven in part by a mistaken belief that Bloom was among a group of men who attacked him earlier.

He responded with an unreasonable level of force given that Bloom was moving away from him at the time, Waner said.

He was so angry that he kicked Bloom in the head after he fell to the ground, mortally wounded, Waner said.

“There is nothing reasonable about this killing,” Waner said in his closing argument.

Bill Mullan, one of two deputy public defenders who represented Sotelo-Urena, could not immediately be reached for comment.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.