Thread: OR: Hit-and-run driver pleads guilty

Hit-and-run driver pleads guilty
Sentencing set for Feb.
By Jessica Musicar, Staff Writer
Friday, December 21, 2007 2:03 PM PST

COQUILLE — There won’t be any trial.

The North Bend man accused in the death of a Springfield couple pleaded guilty, Friday morning, to two counts of failure to perform the duties of a driver to an injured person.

The change of plea hearing, held before Judge Martin Stone at the Coos County Courthouse, came less than a week after the judge had scheduled an April trial for Noe Garcia Moncada, 30, to determine his involvement in the deaths of Dallas and Marilyn Vance of Springfield. The couple died as a result of their injuries in a hit-and-run on Oct. 16 in the parking lot of North Bend’s Pony Village Mall.

The hearing was sparsely attended, with only a few lawyers, the press and members of Garcia Moncada’s family in the courtroom.

With his guilty plea, Garcia Moncada waived his rights to a jury trial, to address witnesses and other constitutional rights associated with such legal proceedings. Each of the charges is considered a Class B felony and Garcia Moncada faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in the state penitentiary and a $250,000 fine. Garcia Moncada will receive credit for the time he already served.

During the hearing, Stone closely examined Garcia Moncada, asking him if he had been pressured to accept a plea deal or if he was under the influence of intoxicants that could have impacted his decision.

Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, his hands and feet shackled with the chains wrapped around his waist, Garcia Moncada said he had not been pressured and was not under the influence, as interpreter Colleen Flanagan quietly translated the judge’s words.

Garcia Moncada was arrested on Oct. 20 in Tustin, Calif., after a piece of evidence and an anonymous tip led investigators to a Dodge 1500 series pickup truck parked at a North Bend home. The truck, owned by Garcia Moncada, showed signs of damage to its front end believed to be consistent with having been involved in a hit-and-run. The Dodge also was missing a piece similar to a 3-by-2-inch chunk of plastic that had been found at the scene on the day of the incident.

Stone warned Garcia Moncada that if he is not an American citizen and agrees to plead guilty, he could be deported. He ordered Garcia Moncada returned to jail. A sentencing hearing will be held at 8:15 a.m. on Feb. 1, 2008. Public Defender Carole Hamilton and Chief Deputy District Attorney R. Paul Frasier agreed to file sentencing memorandums by Jan. 15 and response memoranda by Jan. 28.

After the hearing, which ran about 20 minutes, Frasier suggested why he believed Garcia Moncada accepted the plea deal.

“He’d rather have a judge make that decision than a jury,â€

I'm glad to know that if an illegal alien hit my car, killed me and my husband, and left the scene, he would only get 10 years in prison (probably less with good behavior). I am angry that these people get such short sentences. And, it happens over and over again.

They have no fear of our laws or our law enforcement. Just look how many policeman, agents have been killed by illegals. Our laws don't apply to illegals and they know it! Pretty scarry stuff!

Maybe we should just drive into Mexico and start indescriminately running over people there....

Would we get bailed out?
Serve no time?

10 Years??????????????????????????????????
For murdering 2 innocent people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!

Our two border agents got that for shooting someone in the butt!!!!!!!!!!!

Man sentenced in North Bend hit and run deaths
By Winston Ross The Register-Guard

Published: February 1, 2008 07:47PM


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COOS BAY — The driver of a pickup truck that killed a Springfield couple last October in North Bend will spend as many as six years in state prison, a judge decided Friday.

Noe Garcia Moncada, 30, pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to perform the duties of a driver involved in an accident to an injured person in December, after his arrest Oct. 20 in Tustin, Calif. Authorities said the undocumented immigrant was trying to flee to his native Mexico to avoid prosecution for the hit-and-run charges.

www.registerguard.com

typical