Jacob Dismont and Michael Solid: Case of the Men Who Killed 15-Year-Old Boy, Marcos Arenas, During An Attempt To Steal His Ipad

MARCH 26 2023- Jacob Dismont and Michael Solid are behind bars for the killing of 15-year-old boy, Marcos Areans, during an attempt to steal his iPad when they saw him walking with it on a street in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

At around 3 p.m., on May 16, 2013, Marcos, a freshman at Bonanza High School, left his home in the northwest valley and began walking to a nearby Chipotle Restaurant. 

After purchasing his meal- a burrito bowl and a burrito- he started walking home with his iPad in his hand. Relatives said he cherished it, because it was a birthday gift from his father, Ivan Arenas. 

Ivan said he took out a payday loan to purchase the iPad because he wanted to reward him with something nice for his special day and for doing well in school. 

Prosecutors said Marcos wasn't acclimated to having nice things, so he carried the iPad everywhere he went and listened to music through tethered earbuds. 

When Marcos began walking on a sidewalk near Charleston Boulevard and Torrey Pines Drive, Dismont, who was an 18-year-old baseball player at Sierra Vista High School, approached him and tried to snatch his iPad, but the teen clutched onto it. 

A passerby saw Marcos screaming as he was being dragged from the sideway to a 2002 white Ford Explorer, where Dismont's friend, Solid, then 21-years-old, was waiting in the driver's seat. 

The teen mouthed the word "help" to the passerby before he began wrestling with Dismont in an effort to stop him from stealing his iPad, but to no avail. 

Dismont took the iPad and jumped in the car. 

That's when Marcos reportedly held onto the vehicle and continued reaching for his device. As he was doing so, Solid drove off, and the teen was dragged and run over by the vehicle. 

Just shortly after 4 p.m., officers with the Metro Police Department arrived on the scene and found Marcos laying injured on the street. 

Marcos ultimately died from his injuries. 

Just 10 months before his death, Marcos wrote out his goals for the future on white notebook paper. He wrote, "I want to be ready for the world. Get ready for everything that comes my way."

"After high school, I want to be helping kids... I want to be able to do what I want and have kids with a nice wife. I want to have a better life than I had. And I want my kids to have a better life than I had." 

Prosecutors stated that Dismont tried to alter the SUV's exterior by "adding flame stickers and changing the license plate." 

On May 18, 2013, Dismont and Solid, who were reportedly known to steal Apple products, were arrested and charged with open murder, robbery, and conspiracy to commit robbery. 

Law enforcement officers later recovered Marcos' iPad. His father said it was "great news." He added that the iPad was his "baby's most prized possession. It meant a lot to him, and it meant a lot to me."

Three years after the killing, Dismont and Solid were sentenced. 

Dismont pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a deadly weapon, robbery with a deadly weapon, and conspiracy to commit robbery. 

He was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. 

Solid went to trial. When he took the stand, he said, "I never planned nor conspired with Jacob to steal or rob from anybody that day." 

He added that he initially lied to the police about being the driver of the SUV because Dismont was threatening him and his girlfriend after learning that Marcos died from his injuries. 

"If I did tell the truth, he was going to harm my family," said Solid.

According to his testimony, he drove off because he "panicked" when Dismont yelled at him to drive away. He also said he didn't realize that he hit Marcos until later. 

The jury found him guilty, and a judge subsequently sentenced him to life in prison with possibility of parole after 20 years. 

Solid filed an appeal. 

His defense attorney claimed that "The District Court had refused to conduct a hearing on why black people were underrepresented on the jury panel."

we are sitting here today and getting ready to relive this nightmare," because of a "technicality" in Solid's case, said Marcos' father.

According to court records, Solid's convictions for first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit robbery, and robbery were reversed in 2018 by the Nevada Supreme Court after finding a structural error during the jury selection process. 

After a retrial, the jury found Solid guilty again in May 2022, and he was sentenced to 76 years in prison with the chance of parole after 30 years.