Safety & Security

15-year-old student charged with voluntary manslaughter in stabbing death at Santa Rosa, Calif., high school

March 9, 2023

The victim, Jayden Pienta, 16, was fatally stabbed last week in a classroom at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa.

A 15-year-old student at a Santa Rosa, Calif., high school has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of another student.

The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reports that Daniel Jesus Pulido faces charges of one count of voluntary manslaughter with an enhancement of using a deadly and dangerous weapon and one felony count of unlawfully bringing and possessing a weapon on school grounds.

The charges stem from a March 1 fight inside an art class at Montgomery High School.

The victim, Jayden Pienta, 16, died from wounds suffered after an initial confrontation between students outside a classroom led to a fight inside.

Pienta was stabbed once in the chest and twice in the back, police said. A second 16-year-old boy was stabbed in his hand.

Prosecutors said they filed a manslaughter charge rather than first- or second-degree murder based on reports that the 15-year-old was defending himself during the altercation.