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Thread: Randy Eugene Garcia - California Death Row

  1. #1
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    Randy Eugene Garcia - California Death Row




    Summary of Offense:

    On May 8, 1993, Garcia broke into the home of Joseph and Lynn Finzel, 29 and 28 respectively. Mr. Finzel was not at home and their baby daughter was asleep in her crib. Garcia immediately tied Mrs. Finzel to the bed and attempted to rape her. Her husband interrupted everything by returning home, at which time, he was shot by Garcia with his own gun--a gun Garcia had found in the house. He then turned around and shot Mrs. Finzel. In fear for her baby daughter's life, Mrs. Finzel played "dead" for two hours. The bed which she was tied up on was a water bed and the water was seeping to the surface. Not only did Mrs. Finzel have to pretend to be dead, she had to try to keep from drowning. Or crying out as Garcia heartlessly ransacked the house, even stealing the wedding ring off her dead husband's hand. Thinking his victims were dead, Garcia left the home. It was then that Mrs. Finzel managed to free herself, climb over her husband's dead body and stagger into the street for help, with a bullet lodged in her.

    Garcia was sentenced to death in Los Angeles County on March 23, 1995.

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    P. v. Garcia

    In today's opinions, the California Supreme Court AFFIRMED Garcia's conviction and death sentence.

  3. #3
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    Court upholds Death Row inmate's sentence in Torrance slaying

    The California Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously upheld an Oregon man's conviction and death sentence for murdering a father of two and sexually assaulting and trying to kill the man's wife during a home-invasion robbery in Torrance nearly two decades ago.

    The state's highest court unanimously rejected Randy Eugene Garcia's claim that there were errors in his trial for the May 8, 1993, slaying of 29-year-old Joseph Finzel, who was shot to death when he walked into his bedroom, where his wife had already been sexually assaulted.

    "Here, defendant broke into the Finzel home late at night, while armed with a gun. One month earlier, he had expressed an interest in raping a woman at gunpoint. The evidence suggested that he stood in the backyard, smoking, and peered through gaps in the bedroom blinds before entering the house," Associate Justice Marvin R. Baxter wrote on behalf of the panel.

    Garcia "waited until her most vulnerable moment to strike -- while in bed with a baby by her side," Baxter wrote, noting that the defendant sexually assaulted and hogtied the woman, positioned the bedroom door to ensure that Finzel "would be shot by surprise with his own gun" and shot him twice upon his return home.

    Garcia shot Finzel's wife to prevent her from summoning help, then stayed in the house for two to three hours to collect valuables and repeatedly check on her condition, waiting for her to die, Baxter wrote. The nude, bleeding woman was eventually able to crawl to a neighbor's porch, where she collapsed, and needed emergency surgery to save her life.

    "The property he (Garcia) stole from the couple included the wedding ring on Joseph's finger and anything else he found in his turned-out pockets as he lay dead or dying on the floor," Baxter wrote.

    Garcia was wearing the wedding ring when he was arrested after returning to Oregon.

    The same night, Garcia also burglarized the home of another Torrance couple who were vacationing in Las Vegas at the time.

    He was convicted of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery, attempted forcible rape and forcible oral copulation. Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder during the commission of a burglary, robbery, attempted rape and oral copulation.

    Garcia - who had a 1989 conviction for receiving stolen property in Oregon - was sentenced to death in March 1995.

    The state's high court rejected Garcia's contentions that the process used to select prospective grand jurors resulted in the under-representation of women and Hispanics and that the prosecution's dismissal of three female prospective jurors were motivated by gender bias.

    Garcia also claimed that the lower court erred in admitting victim impact evidence from Finzel's wife.

    http://www.dailybreeze.com/latestnews/ci_18757072

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, Garcia's petition writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis was DENIED.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  5. #5
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On January 10, 2012, Garcia filed a habeas petition before the California Supreme Court.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...tTICAgCg%3D%3D

  6. #6
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Garcia's habeas case has been fully briefed before the California Supreme Court since October 25, 2018.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...tTICAgCg%3D%3D

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