Thread: Illegal immigrant to be deported following plea in fatal cra

August 29, 2008


Illegal immigrant to be deported following plea in fatal crash

By Brad Zinn/staff
bzinn@newsleader.com

STAUNTON — An illegal immigrant was convicted Friday of manslaughter in the death of a 17-year-old boy killed in an alcohol-related crash Nov. 28 on Va. 42.

In a plea agreement with the Augusta County prosecutor’s office, Agustin Alcantar Garcia, 34, of Mount Solon entered an Alford plea in Augusta County Circuit Court to a charge of manslaughter — driving under the influence. He was sentenced to five years in prison and had all but six months suspended.

An Alford plea does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a conviction. It carries the same weight as a guilty plea.

Assistant prosecutor Angela Landes said Garcia was headed southbound and rounding a long curve at 6:46 a.m. on Va. 42 near Va. 809 when he lost control of his pickup, striking a van with five occupants head-on. A 17-year-old boy, Tobias Hernandez Martinez of Mexico, a passenger in the front seat of the van, was killed as a result of the crash.

Landes said skid marks from Garcia’s pickup indicated he locked his breaks while still in his lane before crossing the double-yellow line. An accident reconstruction expert said Garcia’s truck was going 79 mph when he lost control, according to Landes. The van’s speed was estimated at 59 mph.

Landes said beer cans were found in Garcia’s pickup, and that a toxicologist would have testified that Garcia’s blood alcohol content at the time of the crash was “in the neighborhood of .11 percent,â€

Illegal alien kills 17 year old Tobias Hernandez Martinez of Mexico.