Prosecutors: Christmas Eve stabbing suspect acted with ‘rage and anger’

Prosecutors argued Friday that a Santa Rosa homeless man used unreasonable force when he chased down another homeless man he suspected of threatening him on Christmas Eve and stabbed him 70 to 80 times with a kitchen knife, killing him.

Vladimir Sotelo-Urena, 26, acted with “rage and anger” in the slaying behind the downtown Santa Rosa library of Nicholas Bloom, 22, also of Santa Rosa, prosecutor Bob Waner told jurors.

He said there was no evidence that the unarmed Bloom ever intended to harm Sotelo-Urena, who said Bloom tried to pick a fight with him as he read on the library’s back steps.

On the contrary, after Sotelo- Urena pulled the 10-inch knife from a bag, Bloom retreated over a distance of about 40 yards, possibly throwing money at Sotelo-Urena, before Sotelo-Urena grabbed Bloom’s clothes and began plunging the knife into his neck.

As Bloom lay on the driveway in a pool of his own blood, Sotelo-Urena got to his feet and kicked him in the side of the head, further demonstrating his violent state of mind, Waner said.

“There is nothing reasonable about this killing,” Waner told jurors before asking them to convict Sotelo-Urena of first-?degree murder.

Sotelo-Urena’s lawyer, Bill Mullan, countered his client acted in self-defense when Bloom approached him and asked for a cigarette. Bloom, who later was found to be high on methamphetamine, appeared to reach for a weapon, triggering Sotelo-Urena’s response, Mullan said.

He said Sotelo-Urena was wary of getting attacked because he had been stabbed by three men the month before. ?Sotelo-Urena told police he thought Bloom was one of the men, but Bloom was in jail at the time.

“He had to use deadly force to protect himself,” Mullan said.

The arguments came at the conclusion of testimony in which prosecutors played Sotelo-Urena’s taped statements to police.

The proceedings were watched by Bloom’s friends and family members as well as dozens of defense attorneys and prosecutors.

The jury was expected to begin deliberating Friday afternoon when prosecutors finished their summation.

Mullan characterized Sotelo-Urena as a man who was living on the streets after a rough patch. He came from Las Vegas about five months earlier to attend Santa Rosa Junior College but ended up homeless instead.

The night of the killing, he said Sotelo-Urena had been working at a kiosk in the Santa Rosa Plaza. Afterward, he took up a spot behind the library because he lost his place at a shelter, Mullan said.

Sotelo-Urena carried a knife he bought at the Grocery Outlet after he was attacked at the Prince Memorial Greenway on Nov. 11, he said.

He was forced to use it when Bloom came walking up with “enough methamphetamine in his blood to kill a man,” Mullan said.

“Nicholas Bloom was the boogeyman out there, not Vladimir Sotelo,” Mullan said.

Waner conceded Bloom was on drugs but said he didn’t pose an imminent threat. Early in the encounter, he said Sotelo- Urena began thinking of killing Bloom, possibly as payback for the November attack.

Sotelo-Urena pulled the knife and began moving toward Bloom, whom a witness overheard yelling for help and saying, “Stop!”

Bloom backed up about 135 feet before Sotelo-?Urena started stabbing him. Sotelo-Urena left a boot print on the side of Bloom’s head, Waner said.

Later, crumpled-up $20 bills and Bloom’s wallet were found on the ground nearby, suggesting he probably tried to offer Sotelo-Urena money to stop attacking him, Waner said.

“To plunge a knife into someone’s neck repeatedly could never be seen as reasonable,” Waner said. “It is murder.”