Woman pleads guilty to reduced charges in Badger Basin murder

Posted 10/6/16

At a Tuesday morning hearing in Park County’s District Court, 28-year-old Sandra Garcia pleaded guilty to felony counts of aiding and abetting manslaughter and being an accessory after the fact to second-degree murder. Those were reduced from …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Woman pleads guilty to reduced charges in Badger Basin murder

Posted

Sentenced to 10 to 18 years in prison

Sandra Garcia admitted Tuesday that, when she brought her husband to a prearranged meeting place in early 2014, she knew something bad might happen. And after Juan Antonio Guerra-Torres was murdered and his mutilated body abandoned in Badger Basin, Sandra Garcia admitted she tried to help throw authorities off the trail of the men alleged to have killed him: her brother Pedro Garcia Jr. and family friend John L. Marquez.

At a Tuesday morning hearing in Park County’s District Court, 28-year-old Sandra Garcia pleaded guilty to felony counts of aiding and abetting manslaughter and being an accessory after the fact to second-degree murder. Those were reduced from original charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and aiding and abetting first-degree murder as part of a plea deal with the Park County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

She agreed to accept — and District Court Judge Steven Cranfill agreed to impose — a 10- to 18-year prison sentence for the crimes as part of the deal.

“I would just like to say that I truly am sorry for everything that happened,” Sandra Garcia said.

In accepting the negotiated sentence, Cranfill noted the plea agreement had the backing of local law enforcement. The judge said it appeared to be “an appropriate resolution” to the case.

Typically, the state consults with a crime victim or their family before offering a deal, but Park County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Skoric said neither his office nor law enforcement have been able to get in touch with Guerra-Torres’ relatives.

Authorities allege Pedro Garcia Jr. recruited John Marquez to kill Guerra-Torres, with Marquez shooting him in a highway pullout between Powell and Clark. Court documents quote Pedro Garcia as saying that Marquez dismembered the body with an ax after the killing.

The mutilated remains — missing a head, left arm and right hand — were found along a nearby dirt road on Jan. 9, 2014. It took investigators months to identify the body.

Pedro Garcia, 30, remains jailed on counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and aiding and abetting first-degree murder while Marquez, 53, is being held on allegations of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. They both have pleaded not guilty to the allegations, with no trial or other court dates currently scheduled.

As part of the deal, Sandra Garcia has also agreed to testify as a witness for the prosecution against both Marquez and her brother if there’s a trial.

Guerra-Torres, also known as “Chucky,” was a Mexican citizen who split his time between California and Clark. People who spoke to investigators described Guerra-Torres as having been abusive toward Sandra Garcia, involved with trafficking meth and not well-liked.

Sandra Garcia either has or will have to give a full accounting to law enforcement as part of the deal, but she did not detail her role in the crime during Tuesday’s public court hearing.

When Sandra Garcia was initially charged in March 2015, the allegations were largely based on statements from Pedro Garcia Jr. He reportedly claimed his sister had asked him to have Guerra-Torres killed; he said Sandra Garcia told him Guerra-Torres was deeply indebted to dangerous drug dealers who were threatening their family.

However, that allegation — asking for someone to kill her husband — is not what Sandra Garcia admitted Tuesday; her conviction for aiding and abetting manslaughter means she helped “unlawfully kill (Guerra-Torres) without malice, ... involuntarily, but recklessly.” (In contrast, second-degree murder involves killing someone “purposely and maliciously, but without premeditation,” while first-degree murder is committed “purposely and with premeditated malice.”)

Citing the still-pending cases against the other two defendants, Skoric declined to comment in detail about the reasoning behind the reduced charges for Sandra Garcia. However, the prosecutor did suggest that law enforcement’s understanding of the case has changed since the charges were filed in March 2015.

“Obviously, the investigation just continued after arrests were made in this case and more information sometimes comes to light; the case develops more,” Skoric said Tuesday. “And today’s guilty plea ... is what we believe the evidence showed her involvement was.”

He said the deal was based on the facts that the state believed it could ultimately prove in court.

Skoric said the manslaughter charge was specifically connected to Sandra Garcia driving Guerra-Torres to the meeting where he was killed.

Charging documents say she took Guerra-Torres to a spot along Wyo. Highway 294, where her brother and Marquez were waiting. According to Pedro Garcia’s account, Guerra-Torres — who thought he was there to sell some meth — was then gunned down by Marquez.

Defense attorney Robert Oldham said, and Sandra Garcia agreed, that she aided the murder “by acting involuntarily but recklessly by agreeing to meet with Johnny Marquez and Pedro Garcia Jr., knowing that Juan Antonio Guerra-Torres may be in danger of physical harm by Johnny Marquez and Pedro Garcia Jr.”

As for serving as an accessory after the fact to second-degree murder, Sandra Garcia admitted she hindered the investigation into Guerra-Torres’ death by misleading authorities about his whereabouts. Charging documents say Sandra Garcia initially told investigators Guerra-Torres was probably in California and said she hadn’t seen him since late summer 2013.

“There’s no happy ending to a situation like this,” said Oldham, a public defender from Casper. He added that, “The only partial happy ending is, after she completed her sentence, she would be able to get back with her children.”

Oldham said Sandra Garcia “by all accounts has been an excellent mother.” Her young children attended Tuesday’s hearing (along with other family members) and Oldham said getting back to them is really “her only hope in the future.”

Sandra Garcia has been jailed since her arrest on the allegations a year-and-a-half ago. With good behavior, she could potentially be paroled in about five years.

In addition to the prison time, Sandra Garcia must pay $245 in routine court fees.

Comments