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 News from Around the Americas | January 2007 
Mexico Extradites Suspect to U.S.
 Whittier Daily News
| | Teri March, wife of David March was emotional as LA County Sheriff Lee Baca spoke during a press conference at the Los Angeles Sheriff's headquarters in Monterey Park January 9. 2007. (Keith Birmingham/LA.com) |
Monterey Park, CA - The handcuffs that hung on sheriff's Deputy David March's belt the day he was gunned down will be shackled around his alleged killer's wrists this week when he is handed over to Los Angeles officials and charged with murder.
Sheriff Lee Baca held those handcuffs up Tuesday as he and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced Jorge Arroyo Garcia, the man suspected of fatally shooting March in 2002 in Irwindale before fleeing to Mexico, had successfully been extradited and was on United States soil early Tuesday.
Garcia is being held in an Orange County jail until Thursday, when he will be arraigned in a Pomona courtroom and charged with March's death.
"David March led with his heart and that makes this tragedy all the more difficult," said an emotional Baca, holding up the slain deputy's shiny, silver handcuffs to symbolize that justice for his deputy had finally arrived.
"David March will ultimately have the last say in this case," Baca said.
For years, March's case became another glaring example of immigrant fugitives escaping U.S. justice by slipping back into their home countries - where legal wrangles often delay or prevent extraditions back to the United States.
But Tuesday inside sheriff's headquarters in Monterey Park, District Attorney Steve Cooley and an official from the Mexican Consulate General's Office declared success, saying Garcia's detention could lead to better cooperation on extraditions between the two countries.
Cooley said he will pursue a life sentence without parole for Garcia.
"Four years, eight months and 10 days - that's how much time has elapsed since David March was brutally gunned down," Cooley said. "This was the case we wouldn't forget."
A gang member who went by the name "Chato," Garcia had a record for dealing methamphetamines and was known to hold down odd jobs in his country, working in small stores and on ranches.
Garcia was captured nearly a year ago in a small town outside Guadalajara.
Under Mexican law, Garcia was allowed two appeals to avoid extradition, but judges in both trials found the evidence against him solid, said Guillermo Fonseca Leal, legal attach for the Mexican Consulate General's Office in Los Angeles.
"This tells anyone who commits a crime here, that they will not be allowed to find refuge in Mexico," Leal said.
March, a 33-year-old deputy from Saugus, was gunned down April 29, 2002, as he approached a black Nissan Maxima on Live Oak Avenue in Irwindale. Garcia, an undocumented worker who had previously been deported four times and was additionally wanted on suspicion of attempted murder in Baldwin Park, was identified as the prime suspect in the death of the seven-year law enforcement veteran.
Working with U.S. marshals, Mexican law enforcement agencies helped track down Garcia in Tonala in the western state of Jalisco after an expansive search through three states.
In 2001, the Mexican Supreme Court barred extradition of nationals who faced a life sentence in the United States.
The March case sparked a national outcry as lawmakers, radio show hosts, and March's widow, Theresa, called for changes in the system that would allow undocumented immigrants who commit crimes and flee to be brought to justice.
Theresa March testified before a congressional hearing that spotlighted the Mexican law, which she believed stood in the way of justice for her slain husband. She appeared at rallies and worked to lobby for Garcia's arrest and extradition.
There was some victory in 2005, when the Mexican courts reversed the ban, and granted the extradition of two murder suspects who faced life in prison with the possibility of parole for cases in Ventura and San Bernardino counties.
Cooley said the extraditions of two more fugitives are nearing completion. Daniel Perez, captured last year, fled the country while on trial for the kidnapping and attempted murder of his wife, then for killing her father in 1999.
Alvaro Jara-Luna, a Los Angeles gang member who fled to Mexico to avoid charges of killing 12-year-old Steven Morales in 1988 in front of an apartment building in Los Angeles, also had been captured last year.
Both cases are featured on a Escapingjustice.com, a Web site started by the Marches to help other families caught in the same tragedy, find support and information.
At the sheriff's Temple Station where March worked, Sgt. Robert Wiard said they got word Tuesday morning when Lt. Sheila Sanchez sent out an e-mail.
"We've had mixed emotions," Wiard said. "It brings back tragic memories of when March was murdered but at the same time we're kind of relieved he's \ on U.S. soil."
Wiard said deputies are glad Mexico cooperated with the United States.
News that Garcia was now in American custody was also welcomed by Deputy Zoltan Tombol, who was among the first deputies at the scene and performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on March.
"That's good news. I never thought this day would come. Unbelievable," said Tombol, who now works in the sheriff's Training Bureau.
He said he didn't expect Garcia would be sent back by Mexican authorities even after they arrested Garcia on Feb. 23, 2006.
"I didn't want to get my hopes up," Tombol said, adding that he would like to go to the trial.
Rep. David Dreier, R-Glendora, was told by Mexican officials that Garcia had been turned over to the marshals.
"It has been a long time coming, but the day is finally here when the March family will see justice in the tragic murder of David March," Dreier said in a statement.
Dreier has met with then- President Vicente Fox and members of the Mexican Supreme Court over the issue.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, with the rest of the California delegation, sent a letter to President Bush in 2002 urging the swift return of Garcia. He also met with the Mexican ambassador.
Dreier and Schiff introduced legislation that would make it a federal crime to kill an officer and leave the country to escape prosecution.
"The family of Deputy March has been waiting for almost five years for justice - today, they are one step closer," Schiff said.
While grateful to law enforcement agencies, March's parents and widow said Garcia's successful extradition marked another reminder of their loved one's death.
"Today is a kind of sad day, when it all comes crashing down," David March's father, John, said. "Garcia means nothing. He is nothing. He will never see the light of day. He will be in jail for the rest of his life. Thank God."
Theresa March echoed those words as she tried to hold back tears.
"I thought it would be a day of celebration but it's a day of sorrow," she said. "Two people are gone forever. Garcia threw his life away and David is gone forever. We have been broken without him."
Staff Writer Ruby Gonzales contributed to this story. |
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