Video shows just enough to leave Fresno murder case to jury

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A murder case against an already convicted killer is in the jury's hands as of Wednesday evening..

Michael Leyva's trial focused on surveillance video and the testimony of Irene Leyva, who was his girlfriend at the time and became his wife.

Police collected surveillance footage from several businesses after Miguel Garcia died in front of a southeast Fresno strip mall in August 2018.

One of the cameras nearly caught exactly what happened between Garcia and Michael Leyva, but missed just enough to leave everything open for debate.

Defense attorney Doug Foster says it does not show Leyva stabbing Garcia.

"If Michael didn't stab Miguel during that interaction that we saw on the videotape, then what happened next can only be self-defense or accidental," Foster said.

Foster says it's possible Garcia accidentally fell on his own knife later, after he pulled it out and punctured Leyva's tires.

But he says the camera only shows Garcia throwing a wild punch at Leyva, which gave him the right to act in self-defense.

"Someone had just thrown a punch at him," Foster said. "He's fallen to the ground and is in a vulnerable position, at least momentarily. And that person who threw a punch at him has now produced a knife from his pocket and is advancing on him."

Prosecutor Amy Cobb says the video actually does show Garcia absorb the blow to his heart when the stabbing happened.

Irene Leyva testified that Michael admitted to her what he'd done, said he'd go to prison for what he did, and gave her the bloody knife.

Cobb admits Irene's story changed in 2022, but says investigators have corroborated some of the new details, including the spot where she said she dumped the knife.

And Cobb says Irene wouldn't have left holes in her story if she was just trying to get Michael convicted out of anger.

"If Irene Leyva was trying to take revenge on Michael Leyva, she darn well would've seen him stab Miguel Garcia in the heart, and she told you she didn't see that," Cobb said. "She would've seen Michael Leyva punching Miguel Garcia in the face. She didn't see that."

Michael Leyva has a manslaughter conviction from 1991 and another felony strike for burglary, so he's looking at life in prison even if he's convicted of manslaughter instead of murder in this case.