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.
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