Los Angeles prosecutors have rejected a murder case against a Carlsbad couple arrested last week in a road-rage incident that led to a fatal stabbing.

No charges will be filed against Michael Lee Stotler and Maya Sharene Mcinnis, both 22, a Los Angeles police homicide detective said Thursday.

“The DA rejected the case for insufficient evidence,” said Detective Lisa Governo of the Northeast Division homicide unit. “Self-defense and mutual combat issues are what it was, not that the fight didn’t occur or that we didn’t have the right people.”

She said the rejection of the case closes it and there would be no further investigation.


Governo said that on Feb. 20, Stotler and Mcinnis were driving in the LA area and got into a road-rage type confrontation with another motorist. They followed each other for a while, then pulled over and got into a fight in the Los Feliz neighborhood. Stotler was suspected of fatally stabbing Omar Ruben Norato, 20, and Mcinnis was suspected of inflicting a minor stab wound on Norato’s companion.

The Carlsbad couple left, but detectives later identified them as suspects, Governo said. Carlsbad police found them last Friday, pulled them over on Carlsbad Boulevard and detained them until LA homicide detectives took them into custody.

Governo said the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office decided Wednesday that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove who started the confrontation and who acted in self-defense. She said Norato and his companion were not armed “that we know of” and were not documented gang members.

“I think these two kids made some bad choices,” she said of Stotler and Mcinnis. “They are not our typical murder suspects.”