Man sentenced to 7 years for Fallbrook stabbing

City News Service

VISTA – A man who fatally stabbed another man at a Fallbrook plant nursery last year has been sentenced to seven years in state prison.

Luis Enrique Muniz, 57, pleaded guilty to a voluntary manslaughter count and a knife allegation for the Aug. 7, 2021, killing of 33-year-old Escondido resident Ismael Alberto Resendiz. Muniz was sentenced Thursday, April 21, to the stipulated prison term.

Deputies and fire personnel responded at about 8 p.m. to a nursery in the 5400 block of Rainbow Creek Road and found Resendiz with a stab wound to the chest, according to Lt. Thomas Seiver of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. Resendiz was taken to a hospital and died shortly after arrival, Seiver said.

The sheriff's department described Muniz as living at the nursery. He previously faced a murder count in the case prior to his plea.

Police did not release a suspected motive for the killing, nor the relationship, if any, between the suspect and victim.