DA Won't Seek Death Penalty in Gangland Execution Case

Johnny Garcia didn’t look like a hardened criminal when he entered Judge Barbara Walther’s courtroom on Wednesday afternoon, dwarfed in his orange jumpsuit, chains rattling, his face round and expressionless.

The 19-year-old has been sitting in the Tom Green County Jail for over a year now, charged with capital murder of multiple persons after pulling the trigger of a shotgun on two 22-year-olds on Sept. 1, 2013. After months of rescheduled pre-trial hearings and office conferences between the judge and attorneys, Garcia met his defense counsel John Young for the first time on Wednesday, when he was appointed to the case.

Previously, attorneys from the Regional Public Defender’s Office were handling Garcia’s defense, however when district Attorney Allison Palmer waived the death penalty on Oct. 8 the attorneys retreated. They only represent defendant’s facing execution.

Tip Hargrove, a local attorney who was previously assigned to the case, will stay on as second chair, assisting Young in preparing for trial and relating information that has thus far been gathered.

News of the new attorney and the waiving of the death penalty reached the mothers of victims Tabitha Freeman and Alvaro Carrillo on Wednesday. The grieving mothers responded with surprise to the news, each voicing a different opinion on Palmer’s decision.

“When I first met with Allison in November (2013), the Thursday after the grand jury indicted them, I asked her if they would go for life, because I wanted them to have to exist in the same hell 24/7, with no future, no purpose, that I exist in day to day,” said Karen Freeman, who has been actively advocating justice in her daughter’s case since her murderers were indicted.

Freeman said her position on the punishment is not because she is opposed to the death penalty, but rather that death would be too easy an out.

Terry Duarte, the mother of victim Alvaro Carillo who was ruthlessly shot in the face by Garcia, had hoped for a different resolution. Since the death of her son, Duarte has been more reserved in her hope for justice. Talking about her son, his death and the case is still extremely difficult for her, she said, and she has never consented to interviews with media.

In response to Palmer’s decision to waive the death penalty, Duarte offered the following comment via email: “It saddens me that she made that decision. I wonder if it was her child, would she feel the same? It was premeditated. Johnny & Daniel (Uvalle) knew what they were there to do.”

Prior to the hearing on Wednesday, Palmer explained that the decision to waive the death penalty was hers, however stated that she could not comment on the reasoning until the conclusion of the trial.

Asked whether that reason had been relayed to her, Karen Freeman offered the following: “I did ask her also at that time (in November 2013) if there would be any plea bargaining. She said the only plea bargaining that she would do would be if Garcia was willing to plea guilty, she would take the death penalty off the table.”

The attorneys in the case were not able to confirm whether Garcia has indicated that he will enter a guilty plea, and his new trial date has been set for Feb. 17-25. Young said he does not anticipate having any issues with cooperation with the previous counsel, adding that the only foreseeable potential issue would be scheduling expert witnesses so rapidly.

So far, lab reports for the evidence in the case have not been returned, Palmer relayed in court Wednesday, however they should be in by December.

“This isn’t a case where science really tells the tale,” she said.

Garcia’s accomplice, Daniel Uvalle, still has no trial date set. Uvalle was 17 at the time the offense was committed, so the death penalty was never a possibility in his case, Palmer said.

“The legislature recently decided that 17 year olds will not be death penalty eligible,” she explained. “This offense was committed after the date that law went into effect.”

Frustrated with the length of the legal process and the minimal information she’s received about her daughter’s murder, Karen Freeman said that if either of the teens responsible plea out before trial, she’d like to see the evidence to get some answers. She said Palmer told her that would not be possible, but Freeman is hopeful she’ll one day know what happened that night at the Greenwood Apartments.

“I want to know why he shot her,” she said. “I just want to know what happened that night. I have been told that the apartment was full of people; now I am told that there were only four people sitting in that apartment. I do not understand how Tabitha got into the mix and how she was shot. Not to mention, that I want Johnny Garcia—all I want to do is look at him, have him look me in the face, and make my victim statement to where he has to hear it and see me. I just—I need answers to my questions, and some questions, I don’t even know what they are yet.”