Intoxication Manslaughter trial of ex-boxer postponed, lab report shows .268 blood alcohol content
The trial for 24-year-old Joel Garcia will not begin this Friday after all.
Garcia’s trial has been stayed pending a ruling by the Texas Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in on an appeal filed by the state.
Garcia is charged with three counts of intoxication manslaughter.
Police say Garcia was drunk and speeding when he smashed into a car, killing two brothers, 23-year-old Joshua Deal and 19-year-old Isaiah Deal and Joshua’s girlfriend Shannon Del Rio, 22, in the early hours of Christmas Eve 2014.
The ABC-7 I Team obtained a copy of the state’s lab report on Thursday. It state’s Garcia’s blood alcohol content was .268, which is more than three times the legal limit.
The toxicology exam also found traces of cocaine found in Garcia’s blood.
Earlier this year, a judge decided prosecutors would not be able to present Garcia’s blood sample as evidence.
The decision was made after three officers testified they got the sample without a warrant.
The officers said they had to act because nurses were about to give Garcia medication, which would have altered his blood chemistry.
According to police, Garcia was driving a 2010 silver Camaro with Enrique Gaurin as a front seat passenger south on Joe Battle, approaching a red light at the intersection with Vista Del Sol at 1:46 a.m. Dec. 24, 2014.
Garcia entered the intersection against the red light and collided with a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am that was eastbound on Vista Del Sol.
As a result of the T-bone collision a back seat male passenger was ejected from the second vehicle and both vehicles caught fire.
Garcia was arrested for DWI with blood alcohol content greater than or equal to .15 in April 2014 in a separate case. The case is set to go to trial Sept. 22.
Garcia also was arrested on Feb. 14, 2010 for minor in possession of alcohol and having an open alcohol container in a vehicle. He was granted a program deferral in the case minor in possession of alcohol case but court records do not show what happened in the open container case.
