Man changes plea to guilty for part in ‘14 stabbing incident

Published 5:01 am Sunday, February 7, 2016

An Austin man has changed his plea to guilty for his role in a December 2014 stabbing and burglary.

Juan Irlas, 43, changed his plea to guilty last week for aiding an offender as part of a plea agreement. He was originally charged with two more charges of aiding and abetting during a burglary — one for possessing a weapon and one for assaulting someone in the building — all of which are felonies.

Juan Irlas

Juan Irlas

The charges stem from the stabbing of a 51-year-old man in the 1000 block of Fifth Street Northeast on Dec. 26, 2014. Juan was charged for being the getaway driver in the incident.

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Juan’s brother, Danial Irlas, 36, was sentenced previously to serve 10 years for felony first-degree burglary/assault with a dangerous weapon, and he will serve a concurrent 45 months for felony second-degree burglary with a dangerous weapon. He got credit for 316 days served.

Daniel was also serve another concurrent 18-month sentence for probation violation in a May 2014 felony domestic abuse case.

He received credit for 354 days served in that case.

Juan is scheduled to be sentenced April 28.

According to the court complaint, the victim stepped in to a fight Daniel had with his girlfriend in the early morning hours of Dec. 26, 2014, at a friend’s house because the victim didn’t like Daniel getting physical with a woman. Daniel later told police he went to the home to collect $400 but took other items as payment, stole from and assaulted the victim.

Daniel later went to the home where the victim was at about 4:45 a.m. on the 26th. When the victim answered the door, Daniel and two unidentified men assaulted and stabbed him, according to two witnesses at the home who went to get help.

Police saw Daniel leaving the scene in a dark-colored SUV as they responded to the stabbing call. One of Daniel’s companions was later determined was Ernesto Angel Salinas of Austin. A third suspect was alleged to be Willie James Britten III, who was later found not guilty on two counts of first-degree burglary and one count of second-degree assault.

Salinas pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and first-degree burglary on March 2, 2015, and was sentenced to 67 months in prison and $85 in fines on April 17.

The victim suffered a broken nose, two stab wounds to the torso — including one that pierced his diaphragm — and a contusion on his left ear.

According to court documents, Juan told officers Daniel called him at about 4:30 a.m. to come get him after Salinas had been struck in the head with a pipe. Juan then picked up Daniel, and two other people in Brownsdale and then picked up Salinas in Austin.

Juan allegedly told the suspects he wanted “no part of what they were up to” and dropped them off about a block from 1005 Fifth Ave. NE in Austin. He and another person waited in the car while Salinas, Daniel and another person left, and came back 10 minutes later with Salinas’ hand bleeding. Juan told officers the three men were “breathing hard” and had a laptop computer and a phone with them. Juan then drove them away from the scene.