Santa Rosa Murder Defendant Pleads Guilty In 2016 Stabbings

SANTA ROSA, CA — A man pleaded guilty in Sonoma County Superior Court this morning to a stabbing murder on a Santa Rosa street and a non-fatal stabbing in a Santa Rosa movie theater in 2016. Delonte Anthony Hart, who will be 26 Thursday, faces 15 years to life in prison for the second-degree murder of Cirak Mateos Tesfazgi, 22, on Riley Street on June 26, 2016, and 12 years in prison for the attempted murder of Adam Lucero, 23, in the Roxy Stadium 14 theater three days later.

His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 13.

Deputy Public Defender Jeff Mitchell said the sentences will run consecutively.

Hart was deemed mentally incompetent in March 2017 to stand trial and he was sent to Napa State Hospital. The hospital later found his competence was restored and a judge agreed.

A psychiatrist for the defense argued Hart remained incompetent, but she later changed her opinion and criminal proceedings against Hart resumed this year, Mitchell said.

Santa Rosa police said Hart stabbed Tesfazgi more than 50 times outdoors at 418 Riley St. Police found a large chef's knife at the scene and determined a Macy's store in the Santa Rosa Plaza sold the make and model of the knife.

Store employees noticed two knives were missing, and they told detectives a suspicious person was seen in the cutlery area on more than one occasion. Macy's security staff also found a chef's knife package discarded on a stairwell outside the store, and police matched the package to the make and model of the murder weapon.

Detectives also saw a person in a video taken inside Macy's leaving an exit near the stairwell where the knife packaging was found.

Patrol officers recognized him as Hart from several previous encounters and police began looking for him.

Police then responded on June 29, 2016, to the theater where Lucero, who recently moved to Sonoma County, was stabbed from behind while watching a movie. Police found a knife identical to the one used against Tesfazgi in a garbage can at the theater, and Hart was arrested nearby.

Police said Tesfazgi's blood was found on Hart's clothing and Hart's fingerprints were found on the chef's knife left at the murder scene.

Hart is from Baltimore and he spent time in the Bay Area and Southern California, according to police.

Tesfazgi's mother Elsa Tekle was in court today when Hart pleaded guilty.

"I'm glad he pleaded guilty. I wish I knew why it happened," she said.

She said her son had bachelor's degrees in English and political science.

• Santa Rosa Theatre-Stabbing Suspect Already In Custody Is Arrested For Murder

By Bay City News Service

PHOTOS from left: Suspect Delonte A. Hart, image via SRPD; stabbing victim Adam Lucero, photo courtesy of GoFundMe campaign to aid with medical bills.