Judge sets probation hearing for gang member

by HARRY G. PERKINS
Kearney Hub

Published: Monday, January 23, 2012 1:06 AM CST
LEXINGTON - A probation hearing has been scheduled on Feb. 24 for Rene Garcia after he was terminated from the Work Ethics Camp at McCook.

Garcia, 18, was convicted of second-degree assault, a Class III felony. Dawson County Court records say he stabbed rival gang member Diego Nolasco during a fight between two gangs on May 21. Garcia pleaded guilty Sept. 30 to the assault charge.

Garcia was placed on probation that included referral to the Work Ethics Camp. He was at McCook for 10 days before being dismissed from the program.

Garcia was re-arrested and has been held in the Dawson County Jail under a cash bond of $3,000, which District Judge James E. Doyle kept in place.

He lists his home at Newman Grove, but at the time of the stabbing he was in Lexington and was a run-away from a juvenile detention facility, Chief Deputy County Attorney Kurt McBride told the court Friday.

A new probation investigation was ordered. Among the options the court will consider is whether to sentence Garcia to prison from his earlier conviction. A Class III felony carries a prison sentence of one to 20 years.

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