Casarez Jr. Sentenced To 23 Years In Prison For Stabbing Ex-girlfriend At MATC

Ruben Casarez Jr.

Casarez Jr. stabbed ex-girlfriend at Milwaukee Area Technical College. 

By H. Nelson Goodson

April 3, 2013

Milwaukee, WI - On Tuesday, Ruben Casarez Jr., 24, was sentenced to 23 years in prison and 20 years of extended supervision for one felony count of attempted 1st-degree intentional homicide in connection with the September 12, 2012 stabbing incident of his former girlfriend, Irene Johnson, 24, at the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC). Casarez pled guilty on February 8, in a plea deal agreement to dismiss another felony and two misdemeanor charges.

Casarez had recently been released from prison in 2012 and wanted to see his child who he had with Johnson. After several failed attempts to see his child, he began to confront Johnson who refused Casarez' requests to see his child.

Johnson told Casarez that she already had a boyfriend and wanted Casarez to leave her alone. In a desperate attempt, he went to MATC and attacked Johnson with a butcher knife inside a locked office, according to the criminal complaint. 

Casarez' defense attorney told the judge during sentencing, that Johnson had told Casarez that he might not be the father of the child, which enraged Casarez. 

Casarez stabbed Johnson multiple times in the arms, hands, neck and torso. Two men, who were in an adjacent room heard Johnson's screams and came to her aid. They broke open the locked door of an office in the third floor of MATC and then jumped on Casarez. Both Marshall Harley and George Baker were able to disarmed Casarez and hold him until MATC security and police arrived to arrest him.

Casarez before being sentence said, that "he was sorry" and apologized to both his son and daughter for what he did. Also, that he wasn't going to be with them due to the lenghty prison term.