Judge drops burglary charge in knife incident at Fresno city attorney's home

A Fresno County judge declined to hold Larry Torrez to answer on an attempted first-degree burglary charge after a preliminary hearing, a ruling that cut back a case built around a knife incident at Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz’s home. The decision put the focus on whether prosecutors had enough evidence to carry the charge into the next stage of court.

The arrest came after an early morning confrontation at Janz’s Fresno residence on May 17. Surveillance video from the home showed a man approaching the property in the dark, and KMPH said Torrez was seen holding a knife and banging on the front door. Other video from the same incident showed a man scaling the backyard fence before reaching the house.

Janz said the man appeared at his home in the early morning hours of May 17 armed with a knife. He also said he had retrieved his gun and was ready to use it when the armed man arrived. The sequence raised the stakes quickly: a suspected break-in, a visible weapon and an armed homeowner inside the house.

The case drew attention because it moved beyond a routine trespassing complaint and into attempted first-degree burglary, a felony that depends on how prosecutors prove intent and entry-related conduct. By declining to hold Torrez to answer on that count, the judge signaled that the evidence presented at the preliminary hearing did not justify moving the burglary charge forward.

Torrez was identified as the man arrested in connection with the incident. The reporting tied the episode to Janz’s family home in Fresno rather than a government office, underscoring how quickly a private-home intrusion can become a criminal case with broader public interest in Fresno County Superior Court.

The ruling leaves the burglary count off the board for now and puts added scrutiny on charging decisions in the case. In a county where residents expect clear standards in violent and property crimes, the hearing outcome shows how much turns on the evidence prosecutors can establish before a judge, even when a knife, a fence climb and a late-night confrontation are all part of the record.