San Diego
A judge said Thursday that a jury would have to decide the guilt or innocence of a man charged with murdering a 12-year-old girl after she was pushed or--as the defense claims--jumped to her death from his truck on Interstate 5.
Following a daylong preliminary hearing, Municipal Judge Joe Littlejohn ordered Jesus Hector Garcia, 28, to stand trial for the April 22 slaying of Sylvia Rodriguez, who died soon after falling from the defendant’s truck in Old Town.
The first witness called was motorist Jeffery Peterson, who told the judge she saw the girl tumble out of a red Toyota truck but never saw the vehicle’s brake lights come on after the incident. The truck kept on driving, he said.
Garcia’s attorney, Alex Loebig, told the judge “she probably jumped” out of the truck and cited his client’s passing of a polygraph test at the police station after his arrest.
According to a transcript of the test, Garcia denied pushing the girl out of the truck and of pulling her pants down while inside the vehicle. Garcia said the girl jumped out of the truck.
Garcia was ordered to appear in Superior Court on May 24 for arraignment and setting of a trial date.
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