Gwinnett Sheriff: Children's Murders Could Have Been Prevented

By Mike Paluska, CBS Atlanta Reporter
POSTED: 6:30 pm EST February 14, 2011
UPDATED: 7:07 pm EST February 14, 2011

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- Sheriff Butch Conway said Monday, if the county participated in 287-G a month sooner, the deaths of two children allegedly stabbed by their father may never have happened.

Elvis Noe Garcia, 23, is charged with their murders. CBS Atlanta News has learned Garcia has been in and out of the Gwinnett County jail five times since 2004. He was charged with the murders on Saturday.

"Mr. Garcia was arrested for driving without a license and speeding in October 2009, my detractors would've been very upset had he been deported at that time," Conway said. "So, I say to my detractors, suppose we had deported this individual for speeding and driving without a license, this wouldn't have happened."

According to jail records, Garcia was first booked into the jail in 2004. Documents show Garcia was arrested for a number of crimes that included driving without a license, speeding, prowling and loitering.

The night of the childrens' deaths, on Wednesday, Garcia falsely accused a man named Antonio Cardenas-Rico of the murder of his children. Cardenas-Rico was arrested but the murder charges were later dropped. With 287-G, Cardenas-Rico now faces possible deportation because he was also found to be in the country illegally.

"I don't know what is next, if I am going to get out of here soon," said Cardenas-Rico. "I might not be able to see my family my wife and child. I might get deported because I don't have papers."

287-G started in 2009, a month after Garcia was arrested for driving without a license. Since that time, Conway said the program has deported a number of illegal immigrants immigrants, saving taxpayers thousands in dollars.

"If he is tried and convicted, that's another expense, and if he is given life in prison, then the taxpayers in Georgia will retain that expense for years, hundreds of thousands of dollars for a subject who should not have been in Gwinnett County or in the United States."

One of Garcia's son's survived the attack. He is listed in critical condition as of Monday night.

"It's heartbreaking what this individual has done and it's disturbing we have to pay for it for a long time," said Conway.

Gwinnett police are asking the District Attorney Danny Porter to consider Garcia's case for the death penalty. It is something Porter said he will consider once all of the evidence is looked over.

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/news/26865043/detail.html