Trial beginning in fatal Montgomery High School stabbing

Arguments will be presented Thursday in the trial of a Santa Rosa teen accused of fatally stabbing a classmate earlier this year during a fight inside a classroom at Montgomery High School.

Daniel Pulido’s trial will commence in Sonoma County Juvenile Court before Judge Kenneth Gnoss, who will hear arguments from the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office and defense attorney Jonathan Steele.

On Wednesday, Steele said proceedings were ready to move forward but he declined to comment further.

Pulido is accused in the March 1 stabbing of Jayden Pienta, 16, following a confrontation in an art class while other students were present.

He is charged with voluntary manslaughter and having a weapon on campus. He has pleaded not guilty to the allegations and Steele previously said the matter involved self-defense.

Pulido was a 15-year-old freshman at the time of the incident. Because of his age prosecutors could charge him as a juvenile.

In 2018, Senate Bill 1391 was signed into law. It relegated cases involving 14- and 15- year-olds to the juvenile court system, even for violent crimes.

Under California law, juvenile proceedings are open to the public because the case involves serious or violent offenses.

There’s been little space for the public at Pulido’s hearings, however, because Pulido’s and Pienta’s family members have shown up in large numbers and filled the tight courtroom.

Santa Rosa police said that on March 1 Pienta and another 16-year-old boy walked into an art class that was not theirs and started a fight with Pulido, who is accused of using a 4- to 5-inch folding knife to stab Pienta once in his chest and twice in his back.

Pienta later died from his wounds at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. The other 16-year-old also suffered injuries, but his wounds were not serious.

Police said Pulido ran from the school following the incident. He was later found by police officers as he hid in the bed of the Santa Rosa Creek about a mile away from the school.

In the aftermath of the stabbing, students across Sonoma County held walkouts demanding better safety measures on campus.

And, board members of the Santa Rosa City Schools district, which includes Montgomery High School, have been inundated with demands for change from students and parents.

In September, Pienta’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing the Santa Rosa City Schools district, plus school and district administrators, of failing to protect their son.

They contend school officials knew Pulido had a history of fighting on campus and that Pienta did not receive proper and timely medical care after the stabbing.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi