Man who fatally stabbed mother when he was 13 sentenced for fleeing to Mexico from halfway house

ANTA ANA, Calif. (TCN) — A 21-year-old “extremely dangerous and violent criminal” who was captured in Mexico after he reportedly fled a halfway house in California has been sentenced to three years in jail.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced Ike Souzer’s sentencing guidelines on Aug. 13 for violating his probation. He received the maximum term.

Souzer’s extensive criminal history dates back to when he was 13 years old and fatally stabbed his mother, prosecutors said. He also reportedly attacked correctional officers while incarcerated and manufactured and possessed a shank in the Orange County Jail.

According to the district attorney’s office, in 2021, a judge reduced Souzer’s felony charges to misdemeanors for attacking three correctional officers while behind bars. Souzer received 160 days credit time served.

In 2023, prosecutors sought a three-year sentence after a jury convicted Souzer of making and possessing a shank while in custody. However, a judge sentenced him to one year in jail and two years of supervised release. Souzer was released in January but Orange Police arrested him days later for spray-painting a freeway and providing officers with a false name.

Souzer pleaded guilty to one count of felony vandalism, and a judge sentenced him to 90 days in county jail and placed him on formal probation for two years. Prosecutors argued that due to his previous crimes, Souzer should have served his remaining two years in custody.

According to the district attorney’s office, Souzer was released on March 20 and transported to a transitional house in Santa Ana, where he walked away and failed to notify his probation officers of his location. A manhunt for the defendant ensued until his arrest a week later by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Mexico.

In a statement, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said, “Ike Souzer is finally having to answer to the consequences of his own actions to turn every opportunity he was given to make a fresh start into another opportunity to continue his life of crime.”

The Los Angeles Times reports Souzer was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter for killing his mother. His attorneys reportedly argued he stabbed her in self-defense.

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