An illegal alien, previously protected by California’s statewide sanctuary policy, has been sentenced to life in prison after murdering 30-year-old Maris Mareen DiGiovanni and 47-year-old Brent Allan Hallett on the Las Vegas, Nevada, strip in 2022.
Yoni Barrios, an illegal alien from Guatemala, was given two life sentences for going on a stabbing spree across the Las Vegas strip, where he injured six people and murdered DiGiovanni, a Vegas showgirl, and Hallett, a Canadian tourist, near the Wynn hotel on October 6, 2022.
Two months after the stabbing spree, Barrios was found mentally unfit to stand trial and spent two years in treatment. He eventually pleaded guilty to the attempted murder and murder charges against him.
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Hallett’s widow, Carmelita Hallett, told a Canadian news outlet in 2022 that she and her husband had visited Las Vegas several times and were madly in love.
“We were together so long that half of my brain is Brent and the other half is Carmelita. I can’t separate us, we are the same,” Carmelita said. “We were together for most of our lives.”
Meanwhile, DiGiovanni leaves behind her husband, Cole Jordan, her parents, siblings, grandparents, and several dozen cousins.
“Always opening their doors for friends and family, Maris was always the life of any gathering,” her obituary reads:
Maris always saw the best in people, always gave them a chance, and always accepted people for who they were. Her huge capacity for love lead her to have lasting friendships from all over the world. She was a beautiful spirit and soul, and we will miss her for the rest of our lives.
Maris Mareen DiGiovanni (Hennessey Valley Funeral Home & Crematory)
Barrios had a criminal record in the sanctuary state of California, which seemingly shielded him from arrest and deportation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
Specifically, former Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey (D) failed to prosecute Barrios on a domestic violence charge in 2019, which could have locked him up for up to four years in prison.
Three years earlier, in 2016, Barrios was prosecuted in Riverside County, California, for dangerous driving and driving without a license but was never handed over to ICE agents for arrest and deportation.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
