COLDWATER, MI (WNWN/WTVB) – A Miami man was ordered to serve between 57 months and 15 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections on Wednesday in Branch County Circuit Court following the stabbing death of a man at Coldwater’s Quality Inn over 14 months ago.
34-year-old Raiko Moreira-Gonzalez entered a no contest plea to involuntary manslaughter as part of a plea agreement with Branch County Prosecutors. Moreira-Gonzalez was originally charged with open murder and at first claimed he was innocent.
Moreira-Gonzalez was given credit for 438 days already served in the Branch County Jail where he had been held without bond since his arrest.
Due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, his case has lingered in Circuit Court since it was bound over in July of 2020.
Moreira-Gonzalez was charged in connection with the death of 35-year-old Juan Uresti-Rodriguez of Donna, Texas.
Coldwater Police found Uresti-Rodriguez unresponsive in his room during the early morning hours of June 13, 2020 after he was stabbed in the chest. He was later pronounced dead at the scene. The suspect was taken into custody a short time later by the Michigan State Police on U.S. 12 just west of Quincy.
The two men were co-workers at Clemens Food Group and had been living at the hotel with other employees. Police say the two men consumed alcohol and argued before the stabbing took place.
