Two in Grinner’s Daiquiri Bar Shooting Take Plea Deals

SAN ANGELO, TX -- On Friday morning, Marc Anthony Asevedo, 25, and  Anthony Andrew Baca, 28, appeared in The Tom Green County courthouse to take pleas for their involvement in the downtown shooting at Grinner’s Daiquiri Bar in July of 2015.

Asevedo and Baca were charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon for their involvement in the assault of Paul Garcia.

The complaint states that just after midnight on the night of the assault, Garcia was in the 200 block of South Chadbourne near Grinner's attempting to smoke a cigarette when he was approached from behind by two men. One of the defendants placed a gun against Garcia's stomach, and another against Garcia's neck. They ordered him to walk northbound so they could get into a car. Garcia initially complied, but when he reached the intersection of Chadbourne and Twohig, he spun away from their grasp and began running eastbound on Twohig.

As he ran, Robert Jimmy Blanco, Jr., another co-defendant in the case, and Asevedo fired approximately 16 rounds from a handgun at Garcia, striking him once in the arm.

Garcia then fled into the parking garage of the Cactus Hotel, but Baca found him and began striking him in the back of the head with a handgun until an unknown female yelled at him that they shot the wrong person.

Asevedo and Baca prepared to take pleas of guilty for the offense in lieu of their jury trials scheduled for this upcoming Monday. 

Asevedo's Plea: 

Asevedo sat before Judge Ben Woodward on Friday morning prepared to plea guilty for the aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and tampering with evidence charge. The State recommended dropping the Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon charge in return. His agreed  sentence is five years in the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) for each charge. Both charges will run concurrently.  

Judge Woodward accepted the plea recommendation and found Asevedo guilty under the new charges. 

Baca's Plea:

Shortly after Asevedo's sentencing, Baca entered Judge Barbara Walther's court room prepared to enter a plea of guilty. Similar to Asevedo's plea the State was prepared to dismiss the Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon charge and instead file a charge under new information. 

The problem with the plea proceedings was the stipulation of evidence read that Baca struck Garcia on the back of the head with a "pistol", which the State used instead of "firearm" as not to associate a deadly weapon being used in the offense. Walther's stated the word "pistol" still implies a deadly weapon was used. 

After a short recess, both parties agreed on striking the word "pistol" and replacing it with a "metal object" to clear up any misunderstanding. 

"Anthony Andrew Baca, how do you plea to the charge of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury," Walther asked Baca. "Guilty," he replied.  

The State offered Baca a seven-year sentence in the institutional division of the TDCJ for his plea of guilty.

Walther accepted the State's recommendation and went forward with the sentencing.

Both Asevedo and Baca were turned over to the Tom Green County Sheriff's Office detention officers for transportation to prison.