Thread: Additional Facts Emerge in DUI Death

Ripple effect hits court additional Garcia facts emerge
By Jared Allen, jallen@nashvillecitypaper.com
July 05, 2006

Just prior to his 11th driving-related arrest in January, Gustavo Reyes Garcia tried to flee from police, as he had done numerous times before.

After a two-mile vehicle pursuit followed by a brief foot chase, Lakewood Police Officer Glenn Alred finally caught up to Garcia, subdued him and placed him under arrest for driving under the influence, resisting a stop and evading arrest, according to Alred’s report.

And before he took Garcia into custody, the illegal alien delivered a special message to the officer.

“He also advised this officer that when he gets out of jail, he was headed straight for Mexico,” the police report read.

Garcia, who last month allegedly drove his SUV into the sedan of a Mt. Juliet couple, killing them both, did not make it to Mexico following his January arrest.

But he didn’t make it to jail, either.

Although Garcia – who between 1997 and June was arrested 17 times, 13 of which were for driving-related infractions – was arrested for DUI on Jan. 18, 2006, he was not charged with that crime when he appeared in court four days later.

He was charged only with evading arrest, driving on a revoked license and implied consent, the record shows.

“If you look at the warrants, he was charged with implied consent but not with the DUI,” said Amy Goodwin, who was the public defender assigned to that case. “And I’ve never seen an implied consent without a DUI.”

Goodwin said her case notes show that the arresting officer did not appear in court as a witness for the District Attorney’s Office.

“It was a strangely put together case and the officer was not there to explain to the DA what was going on,” Goodwin said. “That’s probably why the deal was made.”

A spokesperson for the Lakewood Police Department could not be reached for comment.

As a result, the attorneys agreed to charge Garcia with implied consent, and after he received a suspended sentence from Judge John P. Brown, Garcia walked out of court a free man.

Garcia had been the beneficiary of plea agreements and suspended sentences many times prior to his January arrest.
In addition, that incident was not the first time police played a role in having a case pled down or thrown out of court.

As The City Paper first reported, an April 2005 case against Garcia – in which he was charged with DUI, driving on a revoked license, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assaulting an officer – was dismissed entirely after the Metro Police officer who made the arrest did not appear in court.Assistant District Attorney Deb Smith, who prosecuted Garcia’s Jan. 18, 2006 case, could not be reached for comment.

But Goodwin defended the entire office.

“And she’s a good DA” Goodwin said of Smith. “She is not a lightweight on DUIs.”

The problem, according to many involved in the process, is that the system in Tennessee is inherently set up to offer DUI offenders deals.

“Nobody wants to see this,” Goodwin said of what happened to Sean and Donna Wilson. “But quite frankly, plea bargaining is what the system’s built on.”

According to Tennessee criminal statute, the maximum penalty for a DUI conviction is 11 months and 29 days in jail.

Goodwin said as a result of DUI sentences, there is no disadvantage to taking DUI cases to trial if a reduced sentence is not offered.

“That’s the whole point of the plea bargaining system. If I have a client who is being offered what he would get if he lost at trial, what’s the risk of not taking it to trial?” Goodwin said.

“It’s the only thing that allows the system to move,” she continued. “And I am compelled to get the best deal for my client.”

Garcia is currently in jail, where he is being held without bond on two counts of vehicular homicide.

Michel Claire Bottoms, the assistant district attorney prosecuting Garcia’s vehicular homicide case, said her office is in the process of compiling evidence to present to a grand jury.

And while Garcia awaits his fate, the system is feeling a ripple effect.

As one public defender who asked for anonymity to discuss the post-Garcia mood in the court system said, “No one’s going to be plea bargaining any DUIs in this county for a while; that’s for sure.”


http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index ... s_id=50773

I didn't see anywhere in the article why ICE was not notified after this scumbag's previous arrests. Also, it doesn't say if he served any time whatsoever for any of his other arrests, what do they do there, just arrest these crooks and let them walk out the other door after booking?

Like we hear so many times too often, these illegal aliens get an unlimited number of arrests, it's not until they kill people that they wake up and sees this system as the travesty of justice that it is. 17 arrests and not once did they notify ICE? Let me guess, the city/county has a policy of forbidding officers from checking or reporting a criminal's immigration status to the Feds.

If I were the family of the people killed I would file a lawsuit against the local municipality for wrongful death and have them stop this policy of turning DUI drivers loose with these cheap plea bargains, especially when they are illegals who should not even be here in the first place.

And what a shock, he fled on foot on most all of his previous arrests, I never would have believed it. Doesn't Bush tell us how much these people are heroes, salt of the earth, good hearted folk, and how family values don't stop at the Rio Grande? Well I guess illegals don't stop at the sound of sirens either.