Gardnerville man receives 11-year sentence in battery

The mother of a woman who was strangled during a domestic battery said she lived in fear of the day she would learn her daughter was dead.

“My greatest fear is that I will get a call that my daughter is dead because of this man,” she said during the sentencing of Carlos Anthony Diaz Jr. on Tuesday morning.

Diaz, 26, was sentenced to a maximum of 11 years in prison after he admitted to strangling the mother of his three children and battering another prisoner.

Diaz will serve a minimum of 52 months as a result of three felonies.

District Judge Tod Young said photos showing the extent of the survivor’s injuries from the May 6 attack clearly showed that Diaz attempted to strangle her.

“He would say it was the quickest way to shut me up,” the woman testified. “I’m doing this for all the babies who have lost their mother to domestic abuse.”

In addition to the sentence, Young recommended Diaz read “Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men.”

As part of his sentencing, Diaz was required to obtain an evaluation that prompted concerns from the judge.

While the evaluator listed the domestic battery with strangulation charge, Diaz reportedly told her that there was an argument that got physical.

Diaz admitted to the domestic battery and to felony child abuse. He was sentenced to simultaneous 2-5-year prison terms.

Prosecutor Chelsea Mazza asked the judge to make the two charges consecutive, but instead he sentenced Diaz to a consecutive 28-72 months for battering Topaz Ranch Estates resident Jedediah Amodeus Haveman, 21, in the jail on Aug. 11.

Haveman himself was sentenced to domestic battery with strangulation on Sept. 28.

Defense attorney Matthew Ence sought concurrent 12-30-month suspended sentences with the requirement Diaz participate in Western Nevada Regional Drug Court.

Mazza sought the maximum sentence on the two charges related to the fight in Gardnerville, with the sentence for the battery on Haveman concurrent.

She pointed out that Diaz said, “he woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” the day he punched Haveman in the face.

Diaz originally denied the May charges after he pestered the woman to see their three children by calling or texting 30 times that day.

The group went to pizza then Diaz led her to his Gardnerville home. When she tried to leave, Diaz ran out and took the youngest and ran into the house. When she went to get the child a tug of war ensued before Diaz grabbed her by the neck and choked her to unconsciousness, according to court documents.

Diaz was freed on bail until June 23, when he went to Sacramento and was using drugs, while trying to communicate with the children via social media, Mazza said.

Diaz apologized to the woman and their children. When asked by the judge what he was apologizing for, he answered that he strangled her.

He said his addiction to drugs contributed to his behavior and asked the judge to order treatment. He told the judge the sobriety he has had over the last 176 days in custody has made him more free than when he was out of custody.