By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A woman accused of murder in the stabbing death of another woman will be in court on Wednesday as she seeks a reduction in her $5 million bond.
According to documents on file in state district court here, Natasha A. Torres, the San Antonio attorney appointed to
represent Kitty Marie Diaz, filed a motion requesting the hearing.
Diaz, 21, is one of three women arrested June 25 and charged with murder in the stabbing death of Del Rioan Caroline Pena, 32. Pena was stabbed during an altercation outside a residence in the 800 block of East 10th Street.
Also charged with murder in connection with the fatal stabbing are Diaz’s 19-year-old sister, Amaya Cookie Diaz, and Kyandra Renee Faz, 22.
Torres filed “defendant’s application for writ of habeas corpus seeking release on personal recognizance bond or bail reduction” on June 30, then filed a corrected application on July 3.
In her application, Torres wrote, “Kitty Marie Diaz is illegally confined and restrained of liberty by the sheriff of Val Verde County, Texas, at the Val Verde (County) GEO facility in Del Rio, Texas, and is charged with the following: murder (F1).”
Torres also wrote, “The defendant (Kitty Diaz) has been in custody since her arrest on June 26, 2026, and her bond currently set in the amount of $5 million. She is currently pending indictment and unable to make bond.”
Torres continued, “Kitty Marie Diaz’s confinement and restraint is illegal because the bond amount is excessive, oppressive and beyond the financial means of Kitty Marie Diaz.”
Torres wrote Diaz’s confinement violates the 8th and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Texas Constitution and the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.
Torres wrote that Diaz asks the court “to conduct an evidentiary hearing” and after receiving evidence, to either order Diaz’s release on personal recognizance or to reduce her bond “for (Diaz) to have an opportunity to obtain release from incarceration pending trial.”
63rd Judicial District Judge Roland Andrade signed an order finding Diaz “is entitled to a hearing on said application” and ordered the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus directing Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez “to produce Kitty Marie Diaz before me in the courtroom of the 63rd Judicial District on July 22 at 1:30 p.m.”
Andrade’s order also reads the state “must then and there show cause why the said Kitty Marie Diaz should not be released from custody on a personal recognizance bond or entitled to a reduction relating to a reasonable bond.”
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
