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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Man Guilty in Girl's Killing
By Vic Vela
Journal Staff Writer
SANTA ROSA — A jury Friday convicted a Las Vegas, N.M., man of second-degree murder in last year's shooting death of a 6-year-old girl, struck by a bullet as she slept.
David Levi Chavez, 22, faces up to 15 years in prison for firing a shotgun into the southside Las Vegas home where, in the early morning hours of June 15, 2008, Jasmine Garcia lay sleeping. The girl, who had just graduated from kindergarten, died instantly in her bed.
The bullet fired by Chavez was not intended for Jasmine, but for Jasmine's uncle, Jeffrey Sanchez, who lived in the residence directly behind Jasmine's, according to prosecutors.
The case was moved to Guadalupe County at the request of defense attorney Bob Gorence, who argued that Chavez could not receive a fair trial in Las Vegas.
Tensions were high inside the courthouse when the verdict was announced about 3:30 p.m., about two-and-a-half hours after the jury began deliberations.
At first, Chavez supporters shouted with glee after state District Judge Abigail Aragon announced the jury had found the defendant not guilty of first-degree murder. But their reaction was tempered when the judge read the jury's second-degree murder conviction.
Had Chavez been convicted of the greater charge, he would have faced New Mexico's equivalent of a life sentence, a mandatory 30-year prison sentence before being eligible for parole.
After the verdict was read, District Attorney Richard Flores gathered Jasmine's family outside the courthouse. Flores said although he would have preferred a first-degree conviction, Chavez is still "a convicted murderer."
"You have our word, when it comes to sentencing, we will ask for the max," he said. "It's closure, I argue, for justice for Jasmine."
Chavez will be sentenced at a later date.
During closing arguments, Flores showed jurors a photo of a proud and smiling Jasmine in her yellow kindergarten graduation cap and gown.
The next photo elicited a powerful response from family members. Jasmine's mother, Ruby Sanchez, burst into tears as Flores showed jurors a crime scene photograph of her daughter's body lying lifeless after the shotgun blast struck her.
Flores argued that Jasmine was a casualty of a "running feud" between Chavez and Jeffrey Sanchez.
"Every time they saw each other in town, they would almost fight," Flores said of the two.
The prosecutor said the feud reached a boiling point about a month before the shooting, when the men were involved in a fight that left Chavez fuming and obsessed with Jeffrey Sanchez.
At a party just hours before Jasmine was shot, Chavez told friend Chris Romero that he wanted "to light Jeffrey's trash can on fire."
His anger soon took a more violent turn. After they left the party, Romero drove Chavez back to the defendant's home, where the two stood outside and smoked marijuana.
At one point, prosecutors said, Chavez went into his home and came back outside with a shotgun and told Romero, "I want to shoot into Jeffrey's house."
Chavez was driven by Romero to the home where he believed Sanchez lived — where Jasmine was sleeping. As Romero waited inside his vehicle, Chavez stepped out of the car and fired a single 12-gauge shotgun blast into the residence and fled the scene.
The next day, a friend with whom Chavez was fishing told him that a little girl had been shot and killed.
"The defendant had a pale look on his face," Flores told jurors. "And what does the defendant say? 'Oh, (expletive),' after he heard a little girl had been shot."
Flores recalled for the jury testimony from friends of Chavez who said the defendant had purchased a shotgun from one of them prior to the shooting. He also recalled video surveillance of Chavez at Walmart, where he was with a friend who bought bullets for him.
But Gorence argued that Flores and Las Vegas police were simplifying a complex case.
"He (Flores) wants to get up there and tell you that it all fits together like a seamless glove," the defense attorney said. "I want you to go back there (into the jury room) and use your common sense."
Gorence said any number of people had "axes to grind" with Jeffrey Sanchez, not just Chavez. Gorence also took issue with Romero's testimony from earlier in the trial, referring to Romero as the prosecution's "star witness."
In efforts to raise reasonable doubt in the jury's minds, Gorence pointed to cell phone records that show Romero had placed a phone call to someone just minutes before Jasmine was shot.
"Is he not coordinating something?" Gorence asked jurors.
The attorney also didn't buy Romero's testimony that he only heard the shotgun blast and didn't stick around to see what had happened after Chavez fired into the home.
"I don't care how doped up he is," Gorence argued. "You don't think somebody's going to watch what happened when someone has a gun?'"
Gorence said police "rushed to judgement" in going after Chavez, saying that their focus on Chavez was "an express train and they ain't getting off."
"There is no justice for Jasmine if an innocent person is sent to prison," Gorence said, urging jurors to acquit his client and send the case "back to the drawing board."
After the verdict, Chavez's mother, Karen Vickery, maintained her son's innocence.
"I know he didn't do it because I know my son," she said. "He's not a violent person."
The mother also expressed sadness for what happened to Jasmine
"I feel for the Sanchez family," she said. "I know that was a child. There are no winners in this one."
Jasmine's father, Mike Garcia, who has a tattoo of the girl's name on the back of his neck, said after the verdict that he misses her greatly.
"Her smile, her laugh," he said. "Everything, every little thing."
Flores told the family he was hopeful the family could now work toward closure.
"I have a feeling that I know her," he told the family. "And that she's smiling down at us."
Flores told the Journal that he has two young daughters of his own, and the case has made a strong impact on him.
"It's a difficult job," he said. "And seeing hundreds of photos of a 6-year-old victim on a gurney, it gets to you."
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