Judge Cites Delays : Mistrial Declared in Garcia Murder Case

A mistrial was declared Monday in the Gonzalo Garcia vehicular murder case after a series of unexpected delays that led one judge to say the case has “the most tortured legal history” he had ever seen.

The trial, which began last December, was supposed to last less than six weeks. But an illness to Superior Court Judge William W. Bedsworth, who presided, was the first in a series of delays and setbacks that disrupted testimony in the trial for three months.

Over prosecution objections, Bedsworth on Monday said that, reluctantly, he would have to declare a mistrial to assure that Garcia was not prejudiced by any juror’s displeasure over the delays.

“Robert Burns said that ‘The best laid schemes o’ mice and men gang aft a-gley,” Bedsworth said. “We certainly have been aft a-gley on this one.”

Garcia, now 28, is accused of second-degree murder in the deaths of two passengers who were in a car that his truck hit Dec. 21, 1986. Police said that Garcia was trying to elude pursuing officers when the stolen truck he was driving collided with the car after he ran a stop sign on Center Street in the El Modena area of Orange.

Killed were Javier Valdez, 45, of Orange and Norma Grossi, 42, of Anaheim. Her husband, Fernando Grossi, who was driving the car, was injured. Garcia, a Mexican national living with friends in Orange, suffered only minor injuries.

The trial began Dec. 14, 1987, with pretrial motions and jury selection. Testimony began Jan. 6, 1988. But after two days of testimony, Bedsworth became ill with a kidney ailment.

The trial resumed again Jan. 14. But it was off again after one day, when Bedsworth’s illness grew worse. The trial resumed Jan. 25. The jurors heard testimony through Feb. 3, when Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard M. King rested the prosecution’s case.

That was the last day the jurors heard any testimony.

Judge Bedsworth then began listening to a motion by Deputy Public Defender James S. Egar that he be allowed to present “simulated” evidence to the jury.

In a court-approved experiment, Egar had Garcia drink 16 beers, then placed him behind the wheel of a simulation vehicle at a Hawthorne science firm. Egar contended that the results showed that Garcia was too drunk to realize the risks he was taking when he caused the accident.

But Bedsworth, who needed surgery, was forced out again before he could rule on the motion.

On March 17, after Bedsworth also was diagnosed with heart disease, the case was sent back to the calendar-scheduling courtroom of Superior Court Judge Myron S. Brown.

Brown, over defense objections, transferred the trial to Judge Luis A. Cardenas, who sits in West Court in Westminster. The defense had wanted to wait for Bedsworth’s return.

“But we didn’t know if the judge (Bedsworth) was going to be out three days or five years, so we wanted to go ahead,” prosecutor King said.

It was Cardenas who referred to the “tortured legal history” of the case.

For example, he had to rule on Egar’s simulation experiment based on a reading of transcripts of Bedsworth’s hearing on the issue. Cardenas ruled that Egar could not use it as evidence, contending that there were too many dissimilarities between the simulation experiment and conditions on the night of the accident.

Then, Cardenas was forced to delay the trial for almost three weeks because a juror became ill with the same kidney ailment as Bedsworth.

The juror could not be replaced by an alternate because there had been only two alternates to begin with, and both had been pressed into service earlier.

Judge Bedsworth and the ill juror were able to return to the courtroom at the same time.

The defense wanted the case to remain with Cardenas, but Cardenas insisted that Bedsworth take it back because Bedsworth already had listened to all the previous testimony.

On Monday morning, Egar quoted Cardenas’ words in West Court--that jurors in the case had become “angry, hostile, and frustrated.” There was too much chance, Egar said, that their attitude would lead to bias against his client.

Bedsworth’s answer was that with nine days of testimony so far spread over five months, he simply could not be sure that Garcia could get a fair trial.

The judge, at Egar’s request, set the new trial date for May 31.