Judge keeps bond amount same for Joel Garcia in 3 intoxication manslaughter cases

More than 20 family members and friends of Shannon Del Rio, Isaiah Deal, and Joshua Deal sat silently in Jail Magistrate Judge James Carter’s courtroom Monday morning to find out if the bond on Joel Garcia was going to be reduced.

Garcia, a professional boxer, has been charged with three counts of intoxicated manslaughter in the deaths of Del Rio and the Deal brothers in a fiery crash early Christmas Eve.

As Judge Carter read the arrest affidavit out loud Del Rio’s family sobbed loudly as her name was read. Friends and family of the Deal brothers hugged each other quietly.

Garcia, wearing a striped orange and white jail jumpsuit, stood quietly before Carter as prosecutors told the judge Garcia was on probation for DWI at the time of the accident.

The defendant was working in the oil fields in Midland but had come home for the holidays.

Prosecutors told Carter that Garcia was on probation for DWI at the time of the accident, adding part of his probation requirement was he drive a car with an interlock system to stop him from driving while intoxicated.

The prosecutor said that Garcia intentionally circumvented court orders by borrowing his parents’ car instead of driving his, adding “the parents provided the deadly weapon.”

The prosecution did not say in court if Garcia’s parents knew he was not supposed to drive a vehicle without an interlock device.

The prosecution requested Garcia’s bond be raised to $1 million.

Garcia’s defense attorney, Miguel Cervantes, asked the judge to reduce his bail from $100,000 per victim to only $10,000 per victim.

That request brought a loud gasp from those gathered in the courtroom.

Cervantes then claimed the amount was excessive and asked for a personal recognizance bond, adding the judge could also order Garcia to put an interlock on his car and wear an ankle bracelet.

Carter listened to the defense attorney’s suggestions quietly then quickly stated he wasn’t going to raise the bail bond amount but he wasn’t going to lower it either.

Background on Fatal Crash

Garcia had his blood drawn without a warrant but police say it was necessary because he was about to be given medicine that would change his blood chemistry.

That information was written by El Paso Police in court documents following Garcia’s fiery collision with a car driven by Joshua at about 1:46 a.m. Christmas Eve.

Joshua was killed along with his girlfriend, Del Rio, and his brother, Isaiah.

Police say witnesses identified Garcia as the driver who ran a red light at a high rate of speed and t-boned the car with the Deal brothers and Del Rio.

According to the affidavit, Garcia told police he had at least five beers and two shots before the crash.

Read full article detailing the crash and other details by going to http://bit.ly/1xt8y2J

The police affidavit also states that an order to draw Garcia’s blood was given before the warrant paperwork was completed because Garcia was on the verge of receiving medication that would alter his blood chemistry.

In Nov. 2014, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled the warrantless drawing of a blood sample from a South Texas DWI suspect was unconstitutional.

ABC-7 asked an El Paso Police spokesman how last month’s ruling could impact what happened in Garcia’s case.

“The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals case you reference applied to a TX law that allowed an officer to obtain blood without a warrant when the defendant had been involved in an accident causing serious bodily injury or death,” El Paso Police spokesman Sgt. Chris Mears said in an email to ABC-7 in late December. “The court struck down this blanket policy and stated a warrant or an applicable exception to the warrant requirement was necessary. In this case the officers had reason to believe if the blood was not immediately drawn the evidence would be forever lost due to the contamination by the medication Mr. Garcia was about to receive. This creates ‘exigent circumstances’ a well-established exception to the warrant requirement routinely recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

“You want to rely on the people with authority to make sure things are done without error so that way there’s no question,” Defense Attorney Joshua Spencer told ABC-7 in late December.

Spencer said there’s no reason to take a suspected drunk driver’s blood without a warrant.

“Getting a blood draw is a violation of a person’s privacy, because of having to penetrate skin,” Spencer said.

But under the law, according to the El Paso District Attorney’s office, “a warrant for a blood draw is not needed if the individual gives consent or if the peace officers believes there are exigent circumstances.”

Exigent, meaning emergency situations. An individual officer can determine when there is an exigent circumstance. However, the decision to conduct a search without a warrant will be reviewed by a police supervisor to ensure compliance with case law.

Garcia, according El Paso Police, was an emergency situation. A spokesperson told ABC-7, “An officer was at the police station writing a search warrant affidavit when it was learned Mr. Garcia was to about to be given medication that would contaminate any future blood samples for evidentiary purposes.”

“No, I don’t buy that at all,” Spencer said. “Everybody should do their part without having any question of whether that process was done correctly.”

Spencer said, in any jurisdiction, there’s always an on-call judge, available to approve search warrants in minutes. Not only that, but according the police affidavit, Garcia ended up refusing any medical treatments and left the hospital with his blood being unaltered by medication.

But El Paso police say Texas law allows an officer to obtain blood without a warrant when the defendant had been involved in an accident causing seriously bodily injury or death.

Spencer said it will be up to the local court to decide how to apply the law, and to determine whether a warrant-less blood sample will have any impact on the case.