Lawrence restaurant stabbing case ends with suspended prison sentence

A 2024 stabbing outside El Potro Mexican Cafe in Lawrence ended Monday with Edgar Oropeza Diaz receiving a 12-month prison sentence, suspended to 24 months of probation, a result that keeps the case alive through court supervision even as the prison term is held back.

The violence began just before 9:30 p.m. on May 12, 2024, outside the restaurant at 3333 Iowa St., when police said two workers were arguing. Officers reported that Diaz stabbed the other man, leaving wounds to the victim’s upper body and face. The victim was taken to an area trauma center, and the injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

Lawrence police later found Diaz in a parked car near 24th and Ridge Court and arrested him without incident. He was 28 at the time and held without bond after the arrest. The case then moved slowly through Douglas County District Court, where Diaz in March 2026 pleaded no contest to aggravated battery. He had originally been charged with aggravated battery as a level 4 person felony, but he pleaded to a level 7 person felony.

At that hearing, prosecutor Eve Kemple told the court the victim was satisfied with the plea agreement. Senior Judge Merlin Wheeler cited the arrest affidavit as the factual basis for the plea. Under the plea, Diaz faced a sentencing range of 11 to 34 months depending on criminal history, which helps explain why the 12-month prison term landed at the low end of the grid. Kansas law, under K.S.A. 21-5413, defines aggravated battery to include knowingly causing bodily harm with a deadly weapon or acting in a way that could cause great bodily harm, disfigurement or death.

The suspended sentence means Diaz will not go to prison unless he violates probation, but he will remain under supervision for two years. For the victim, the plea and sentence close the criminal-court chapter of a case that began with a violent attack outside a busy restaurant. For nearby businesses and for Lawrence residents who remember the Iowa Street scene, the outcome shows how a serious public-safety incident can continue shaping perceptions long after the first headlines fade.