Three weeks after his son and namesake was charged with murder,
Roy Lopez Garcia Sr. had his own murder conviction overturned by
the California Supreme Court Thursday, the latest twist in the
Gilroy family’s tragic saga.
”
This is a step toward restoring my faith in the system, which
was very badly damaged when he was convicted,
”
Garcia family friend Craig Dunkerley said.
”
In my heart there is no doubt that Roy is completely innocent of
this.
”
Gilroy – Three weeks after his son and namesake was charged with murder, Roy Lopez Garcia Sr. had his own murder conviction overturned by the California Supreme Court Thursday, the latest twist in the Gilroy family’s tragic saga.
“This is a step toward restoring my faith in the system, which was very badly damaged when he was convicted,” Garcia family friend Craig Dunkerley said. “In my heart there is no doubt that Roy is completely innocent of this.”
Garcia was convicted in September 2000 for the shotgun slaying of Deborah Gregg, with whom he had been involved in a property dispute. Unless he posts bail, he will soon join his son, Roy Lopez Garcia Jr., in county jail, where they will both await murder trials.
Earlier this month, Garcia Jr. was charged with murder for the July 3 beating death of his friend Jeff Garner. Garcia Jr. attacked Garner with a metal pipe while Garner, 25, was fighting with his 15-year-old girlfriend. The three of them had spent the evening drinking and smoking crystal meth on the grounds of the Garcia family’s rural estate east of Gilroy, according to court records. Garcia Jr. has claimed he acted to protect the girl.
The jury in the elder Garcia’s case decided that he plotted to kill Gregg, who lived in a trailer on a small patch of land adjacent to Garcia’s ranch on Armsby Lane in Morgan Hill. The jury convicted Garcia of murder with an enhancement for “lying in wait,” for shooting her as she worked on a fence that split their properties.
According to court records, the trial was dominated by competing theories of where Gregg’s assailant was located when the fatal shots were fired. During the trial, jurors were taken to the crime scene to help them sort out the testimony of competing expert witnesses, including a San Francisco police officer who testified on behalf of the defense. The scene was reconstructed to look as it did the day of Gregg’s murder, complete with props investigators used to track the trajectory of the shots.
Two days into deliberations, the jury asked to see the crime scene again, and was escorted there by Judge Hugh F. Mullin III. Mullin allowed the highly unusual move on the grounds that it was similar to reviewing a piece of evidence in the jury room. He did not allow counsel to attend the viewing. The day after they revisited the scene, the jury reached a verdict.
Garcia’s appeal was rejected by the 1st Appellate District, but his attorneys’ argument that the visit tainted the deliberations gained traction with the Supreme Court. In his opinion overturning the conviction and remanding the case back to the trial court, Presiding Justice Ronald George wrote that the visit “created a much greater risk that the jury potentially will receive new or improper evidence,” and showed that the jury had questions about “whether the prosecution’s version of the events should be accepted.”
One of Garcia’s appellant attorneys, Dylan Schaffer, said Thursday that he expects Garcia will be exonerated after a fair trial.
“The trial he received was grossly unfair,” Schaffer said, referring to dubious testimony from a jailhouse snitch that he said “damned” Garcia. “It’s always been our view that the evidence is woefully inadequate and we believe he will be acquitted at a fair trial.”
Before he was arrested for Gregg’s murder, Garcia was a prosperous businessman with substantial real estate holdings throughout the county. He and Gregg were involved in a series of civil disputes over their shared property boundary. Garcia claimed that she was encroaching on his land. Gregg, in turn, made several complaints to environmental authorities that Garcia was fouling a creek on his land.
In both civil and criminal proceedings, Gregg and other witnesses testified that Garcia had vowed revenge on her for interfering with his plans and threatened to “make her disappear.”
In a dissent, Justice Ming Chin argued that the evidence against Garcia was “extremely strong” and that there were no other possible suspects.
“Only the defendant had the proven motive, means and opportunity to kill Deborah Gregg,” Chin wrote. “Under the facts of this case, it is simply inconceivable the jury would have reached a different verdict had counsel or his client been present at the jury revisit.”
Javier Alcala, the Santa Clara County deputy district attorney who tried the case, could not be reached. Deputy Attorney General John H. Deist, who argued the appeal, predicted that Garcia will be retried. In the meantime, his case will be handled as though he has just been arrested.
Garcia Jr. is expected to enter a not guilty plea during his next court appearance, scheduled for Aug. 16.
