Fatal stabbing occurred during fight at NW Bakersfield party

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — One man shoulder-checked another outside a house party, and they squared up.

A shirt was removed before the fight began, then they went at it; others jumped in.

When it was over, Lawrence James Leyvas, 20, was stabbed in the neck. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead within an hour.

Bradley Perez, 19, told other partygoers he became afraid and stabbed Leyvas when he saw him reach toward a pocket, according to witness statements contained in sheriff’s reports.

Cellphone video of the fight, however, shows Leyvas being assaulted by four people, “and at no time can you see Leyvas reaching to his pockets as if he was trying to retrieve something,” the reports say. No weapons were found on him.

Perez has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder and is due back in court in December.

Deputies were dispatched at about 2:20 a.m. on Oct. 6 to a report of a stabbing on Stone River Court, south of Hageman Road and west of Renfro Road. Leyvas, who suffered a single stab wound to the right side of his neck, was pronounced dead at 3:03 a.m. at Mercy Hospital Southwest.

A person who lives at the home where the party was held found a pocketknife with blood on it in a trash can on the side of the house, according to the reports. Deputies seized the knife.

After interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence — including cellphone video — detectives arrested Perez on Oct. 10. He’s being held without bail.

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