Judge Changes Plea in Car Accident Case : Courts: Albert J. Garcia switches to no contest with no promise of leniency. He faces up to five years in prison for hit-and-run crash that killed his passenger.

A Compton Municipal Court judge unexpectedly pleaded no contest Wednesday to charges that he killed his female companion in a hit-and-run drunk-driving accident. He could face up to five years in jail.

Albert J. Garcia, a judge for eight years, entered the plea for his role in a Feb. 21 accident in Eagle Rock that killed Josie Smith, a 35-year-old mother of three who had told friends she hoped the judge would divorce his wife to marry her.

Garcia, 46, had pleaded not guilty on March 15 but changed his plea Wednesday morning in Municipal Court.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Latin said he was unsure why Garcia changed his mind because no plea bargain had been arranged. “It’s an open plea with no promises or offers” of more lenient punishment, Latin said.

Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., Garcia’s attorney, did not return phone calls seeking comment. Garcia will be sentenced Aug. 9.

Garcia’s Mercedes-Benz went out of control and hit a post Feb. 21 after leaving the Ventura Freeway near Colorado Boulevard, witnesses to the accident said. Smith, who authorities say was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the vehicle and died after landing on a concrete median. Garcia waited nearly four hours before surrendering to police, authorities said.

Garcia won an uncontested election last month for a six-year term beginning in January, but the presiding judge of the Compton court, Jerry Johnson, said he expects a replacement to be appointed.

Johnson said the state Constitution requires that Garcia be suspended. The California Commission on Judicial Performance will decide whether Garcia will be suspended without pay. The judge has been on paid leave since his arrest.

“Thank goodness it’s not my call,” said Johnson, who considers Garcia a friend. “I’m too close to it. . . . I really don’t know what my reaction is.

“It will be a loss for the judicial system--his personal life aside, he was a good judge. You can’t take that away from him,” said Johnson, who said he feels for Smith and her family.

Smith’s sister Angie Montes said she is glad the case does not have to go to trial. “Now I’ll remember her the way she was,” said Montes, who co-managed a Highland Park restaurant with her sister.

“She was a wonderful, happy-go-lucky person, loving, generous,” Montes said. “This way, that stays clear.”