Matt Garcia News Blog

Prosecution rests its case in Garcia trial

By Jess Sullivan

May 14, 2010

Daily Republic

VALLEJO — The prosecution rested its case Friday against Henry D. Williams, the accused killer of Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia.

A drug dealer who took $50 from Gene A. Combs, Williams' friend, and who never gave Combs his methamphetamine retook the witness stand. Ryan Estes talked about how Combs' increasing anger may have fueled gunfire in the Cordelia street outside his Silverado Drive home on the night of Sept. 1, 2008.

Other witnesses have testified Williams mistook Garcia for Estes that night. The pair went to the drug dealer's home shortly before Garcia drove past them on his way to a nearby friend's home. After the shooting, Williams climbed back into their car and they drove off.

Estes emphasized how he was more than just a methamphetamine and cocaine provider to Williams, that their relationship was more of a friendship.

Estes ended his testimony by trying to tell Garcia's family members in the courtroom that he was sorry.

Prosecutor George Williamson also put on a series of witnesses who described Williams fleeing Fairfield the day after the shooting and showing up in a Las Vegas mosque where he told a tale of being a displaced hurricane victim from Houston.

Williams was arrested two weeks after Garcia's death.

Following a gun

The trail of the alleged murder weapon, before and after the killing, was also detailed throughout the day's testimony. The weapon was a 50-year-old, .22 caliber Colt semi-automatic handgun.

Previous testimony about crime scene ballistics show the old gun was fired at least eight times with bullets ricocheting off the street and sidewalk and striking distant homes and cars. Garcia, standing at least 40 yards from the gun, was struck once in the back of the head.

A few weeks before the shooting, a friend of Combs sold him the gun for $160, according to the friend's testimony. The friend, a convicted felon, got the gun from another friend, also a convicted felon, who found the gun in a pile of clothes he bought at a rental storage locker property auction.

Williams had the gun in a black plastic box while he was at a Labor Day barbecue party in Berkeley on the afternoon before the shooting, according to testimony of the party's host, also a felon.

The host also described for police two weeks after the shooting that Williams had shown back up at the Berkeley home the day after the shooting telling the host "I (expletive) around and I shot the councilman" and that "a dope fiend got (him) in a wreck."

One of Williams' neighbors testified about Williams arriving at his East Tabor Avenue apartment a short time after the shooting, beer in hand and very drunk, and bragging about how "he had to unload a clip on someone."

A neighbor of Williams' mother testified Williams had showed up at his home on the night of the shooting and given him a black plastic box with a gun inside.

The neighbor, also a felon, said he got a call from Williams the next day telling him to get rid of the gun. The neighbor testified he took the alleged murder weapon to the Benicia Bridge and threw the gun into the Suisun Bay before disposing of the plastic box in a gas station trash can.

Police dive teams never found the gun.

The defense case will get under way when the trial resumes Thursday. Judge Rob Bowers said the jury should hear closing arguments in the trial and begin deliberations by the next day.

Combs' jury trial on a murder charge is scheduled to begin the following week on May 26.

Reach Jess Sullivan at 427-6919 or jsullivan@dailyrepublic.net.

Key witness takes the stand

By Jess Sullivan 

May 13, 2010

Daily Republic

FAIRFIELD — The prosecution's star witnesses testified Thursday in the trial for the ex-con who allegedly shot and killed Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia.

The woman, Nicole Stewart, recounted how her boyfriend, Henry D. Williams, got out of their parked car and fired several shots at the driver of a Cadillac that had passed by their car moments earlier.

Williams' defense attorney, John Mendenhall, needed to discredit Stewart's believability to support his defense strategy claiming the real shooter was the other man in the car on the night of Sept. 1, 2008, Gene A. Combs.

Mendenhall was mindful of Stewart's version of events from testimony at a 2009 probable cause hearing. However, he did not flesh out any solid motive for Stewart to lie as he tried picking apart the lies she initially told Fairfield police when she was arrested 11 days after the shooting.

Stewart repeatedly said she could not remember what she told police in the recorded interview, prompting Mendenhall to repeatedly give her a transcript to help her remember. Sometimes, but usually not, Stewart's memory remained flawed.

Judge Rob Bowers grew frustrated with Mendenhall's piecemeal approach and had Stewart read the interview transcript all at once, while in the jury box and while jurors sat in silence for about 15 minutes.

Prosecutor George Williamson countered by going over the four later consistent interviews Stewart had with police after naming Williams as the shooter, who allegedly had acted because he mistook Garcia as a drug dealer who had stiffed Combs in a drug buy earlier in the day.

"I didn't want anyone to get into trouble," Stewart said of her initial lies.

Stewart described Williams being out of the car for 35 seconds and the sounds of several pops from behind the car before Williams got back in the car and told her to drive off.

Stewart sat behind the wheel, eating fried chicken, during the shooting. She did not talk about the shooting afterward or ask Williams about fleeing to Las Vegas the following day.

Mendenhall also focused on Stewart's rocky relationship with Williams. She was pregnant with his child at the time of the shooting, and they were sharing an East Tabor apartment.

Details of Stewart getting more than $11,000 as part of a witness protection program in the months after the shooting were explored by Mendenhall, but Williamson repeatedly had Stewart say the money had not influenced her version of events.

District Attorney David Paulson was criticized repeatedly over the decision not to charge Stewart with any crimes while charging Williams and Combs with murder.

The drug dealer who lived near the Silverado Drive shooting scene also took the witness stand. Ryan Estes said he's repeatedly sold Combs -- who he knew as Methhead Gino -- methamphetamine. He'd also sold methamphetamine and cocaine to Williams.

Estes grudgingly testified he'd taken $50 from Combs before using the money to buy beer before going to Oakland to party.

Combs called Estes about 15 times after he figured out he'd been fleeced. He ignored all the calls, Estes said, but listened to three messages after learning about the shooting.

"Those bullets were meant for you," the message stated. Estes was unsure whether Williams or Combs was the speaker but said the voice was "evil."

Estes is expected to retake the witness stand when the trial resumes this morning.

Reach Jess Sullivan at 427-6919 or jsullivan@dailyrepublic.net.

Testimony gets under way

By Jess Sullivan

DAILY REPUBLIC

VALLEJO — Deputy District Attorney George Williamson began laying his case out for jurors in the trial of the ex-con accused of gunning down Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia.

Opening statements

Before the first witness took the stand, both lawyers told jurors very different versions of what they believe happened Sept. 1, 2008.

John Mendenhall, defense attorney for accused killer, Henry D. Williams, was quick to spell out his defense strategy.

"Gene Combs shot Matt Garcia," were the first words out of Mendenhall's mouth Wednesday morning.

Mendenhall went on to tell jurors it was Combs who had a beef with a drug dealer who Combs had visited on Silverado Drive in Cordelia shortly before Garcia was shot and killed after driving up to a nearby house.

"Henry Williams didn't have any problems with Ryan Estes (the alleged dealer)," Mendenhall said before telling jurors Williams and Estes had been cordially drinking beer together a few hours before the shooting.

After the shooting, Combs boasted to a friend of having "already popped me one mother- (expletive)," according to Mendenhall. Combs had given Estes $50 for methamphetamine earlier in the day, according to Mendenhall.

Mendenhall also emphasized the sole eyewitness description police got of the shooter came from Jennifer Tarbell, the woman whose home Garcia was visiting that night. She got a two second look at the shooter and described him as an Hispanic or light-skinned black male. Williams is dark-skinned. Combs has a much lighter complexion.

Combs' trial on a murder charge is set to begin later this month.

Williamson told jurors it was Williams who was toting the gun before and after the shooting and who told a neighbor after Garcia's killing that "(He) emptied a clip on a guy tonight."

Williamson emphasized the expected testimony of Williams' girlfriend, Nicole Stewart, who testified at the defendants' probable cause hearing that Williams was the shooter.

"It was a senseless killing over a bad dope deal," Williamson told jurors, describing Garcia as having been "in the wrong place, at the wrong time and the wrong guy."

Police believe Garcia's death was a case of mistaken identity.

The prosecution case begins

Williamson's first witness was Mike Beatty, the first Fairfield police officer to arrive at the shooting scene. Williamson said he expects to call 40 to 45 witnesses during the trial, which is expected to take two weeks.

Tarbell followed Beatty and described Garcia's phone calls and texting before agreeing to meet with her on his way home from a party.

She described Garcia's big smile, his hug and their laughter before she heard what she thought was firecrackers coming from up the street.

Tarbell saw the muzzle flash from a gun and ran toward her house.

"I called out for Matt. I saw him on the ground and ran over. I rolled him over and hoped and prayed it wasn't true," Tarbell testified.

Tarbell pointed to Williams at the defense table, saying he had the height and build of the man she had seen standing outside a car parked down the street that night.

Mendenhall tried countering Tarbell's testimony by repeatedly trying to get her to repeat the description she gave police the night of the shooting and the description she gave a police sketch artist a few days later.

Most of Williamson's case on the first day of testimony focused on the crime scene investigation and the eight shell casings found in the street in the aftermath of the shooting.

Mendenhall had little to dispute with the sparse crime scene evidence.

Williamson is scheduled to continue his case against Williams this morning.

Reach Jess Sullivan at 427-6919 or jsullivan@dailyrepublic.net.

 

Lawyers pick jurors in Garcia murder case

By Jess Sullivan
May 6th, 2010
Daily Republic

VALLEJO — A jury and two alternate jurors were selected Thursday in the jury trial of the man accused of shooting and killing Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia.

The accused killer, Henry D. Williams, has pleaded not guilty to murder and related felony charges for the September 2008 killing.

Even after jurors were sworn in and ordered back to court May 12 for opening statements and testimony, Williams' attorney, John Mendenhall, continued to argue pretrial media reporting made it impossible for his client to get a fair trial.

During the two-day selection process, many jurors said they knew Garcia, his family and had followed the shooting, arrest, and prosecution in the media.

Some jurors had gone to school with Garcia, 22 at the time of his death, and at least one had raised money for the Matt Garcia Youth Center.

Altogether more than 200 potential jurors had been in the potential jury pool. More than 120 were in the Vallejo courtroom for much of the day, most hoping they would not be summoned up to the jury box for questioning by the attorneys and possibly being seated as a juror in the trial expected to last two to three weeks.

Only 40 potential jurors were questioned by the attorneys before a jury was sworn in. The two alternates, both African-American women including a Solano County probation officer, were chosen a short time later.

The selection process was not without legal brawling. As soon as prosecutor George Williamson excused his first potential juror from the panel, Mendenhall objected, raising concerns the excusing of the Hispanic woman was possibly motivated by racism.

Judge Rob Bowers quickly dismissed the assertion and a few minutes later, when Williamson excused his next potential juror, an African-American man, Mendenhall renewed his concerns. Bowers once again ruled against Mendenhall after Williamson explained his reasons for dismissing the man from the potential jury.

While Williams is not scheduled to return to court until next week, his alleged accomplice in the shooting, Gene A. Combs, is scheduled to be in court Friday for the start of jury selection in his murder trial for Garcia's death. Once a jury is picked for Combs' trial, they will be excused from court and won't return until after the Williams' jurors begin deliberations in a few weeks.

Williams, 33, and Combs, 46, allegedly drove to Cordelia one night in September 2008 looking for a methamphetamine dealer who Combs thought had stiffed him in a drug buy. While parked in a car a short distance from the dealer's home, Garcia drove past the pair. WIlliams is believed to have mistaken Garcia for the dealer and from a distance of about 50 yards in the darkness, he allegedly fired several shots toward Garcia. One shot struck Garcia in the back of his head, according to testimony at the pair's probable cause hearing.

Reach Jess Sullivan at 427-6919 or jsullivan@dailyrepublic.net.

Jury selection begins in Garcia murder trial

By Jess Sullivan
May 5th, 2010

Daily Republic

VALLEJO — Jury selection got under way Wednesday for the trial of the ex-convict accused of shooting and killing Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia.

The effort to find 12 impartial citizens began with scores of potential jurors filling out lengthy questionnaires inquiring about their backgrounds and any familiarity they may have with the crime and the accused, Henry D. Williams.

The jury pool was cleaved by more than 40 percent by mid-morning with dozens of potential jurors explaining it would be a severe hardship for them to sit in a jury trial expected to take two to three weeks.

Potential jurors who did not claim a hardship left the courthouse by 10:30 a.m. after being ordered to return Thursday morning when Judge Rob Bowers, prosecutor George Williamson and defense attorney John Mendenhall will question potential jurors individually.

As Bowers and the lawyers met with potential jurors claiming hardship, Garcia's family and loved ones watched silently, filling most of the gallery chairs in the small courtroom.

Attorneys expect a jury will be impaneled Thursday and will return to the courthouse May 12 for opening statements and the start of the prosecution's case against Williams.

On Friday, another pool of potential jurors will convene at the courthouse to begin the selection process for the trial of Williams' alleged accomplice, Gene A. Combs. The jurors chosen for Combs' trial will begin hearing testimony shortly after Williams' trial draws to a close.

Both Williams, 33, and Combs, 46, are facing murder charges and related felony charges for Garcia's killing in September 2008.

On the night of Sept. 1, Williams and Combs were in Cordelia trying to locate a friend who they believed had pocketed $50 Combs had given him for methamphetamine, according to testimony at the pair's probable cause hearing.

Garcia, 22, drove past the car the pair were in and Williams mistakenly thought Garcia was the friend. When Garcia got out of his car, about 50 yards down the street, Williams allegedly fired several shots at him. One shot struck Garcia in the back of the head.

Reach Jess Sullivan at 427-6919 or jsullivan@dailyrepublic.net.